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Editor of Smithsonian’s Joseph Henry Papers Praises Lincoln: The Fire of Genius

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One chapter of my new book, Lincoln: The Fire of Genius, is called Institutionalizing Science. Much of the focus is on the Smithsonian Institution’s first Secretary, Joseph Henry, and his relationship with Abraham Lincoln. I am very happy that Marc Rothenberg, the former Editor of The Papers of Joseph Henry, as well as past Historian at the National Academy of Sciences, has provided the following praise for the book:

This is the first in-depth study of Abraham Lincoln’s interest in technology and science and how that interest impacted his life and his Presidency. This is not simply a biography. Drawing on his extensive research in both primary and secondary sources, Kent adds new nuance and context to our understanding of the place of technology and science in American culture in the antebellum period and during the Civil War. He presents Lincoln as a man of his times, aware of, and sensitive to, the technological innovations and scientific discoveries which were helping to shape modern America. Indeed, as Kent demonstrates, Lincoln was a catalyst for some of that transformation wrought by science and technology.

Rothenberg was Editor of the Joseph Henry Project for over 20 years and was on the Smithsonian staff for thirty. The project conducted a worldwide search for documents to supplement those already held by the Smithsonian, eventually obtaining documents from over 300 repositories in 17 nations. Overall, there were nearly 136,000 documents, all of which were computer indexed for searchability. Eleven printed volumes were issued. They became a valuable resource for my research of this book. Rothenberg clearly is an expert on Joseph Henry. After getting a bachelor’s degree in astronomy from Villanova, he received his PhD in History of Science from Bryn Mawr.

Once the Joseph Henry Project was complete, Rothenberg moved on to be historian at the National Academy of Sciences, another institution signed into existence by Abraham Lincoln, and which plays an important role in my Institutionalize Science chapter. I first met Rothenberg at a private club in Washington, DC, where he graciously treated me to lunch and gave me the benefit of his experience for over three hours. He read an early version of this chapter and provided valuable feedback, so it was a given that I would ask him to read the galley of the full book, after which he provided the above praise. A shorter version of his remarks will appear as a blurb on the back cover of the book when it is released on September 1st.

I’ve been honored to have received advanced praise not only from Rothenberg but from prominent Lincoln experts Harold Holzer and Michael Burlingame. Lincoln biographer and journalist Sidney Blumenthal wrote a wonderful foreword to the book. Click on the links to see what they said. And that isn’t all. Several other well-known Lincoln experts provided blurbs. I’ll talk about those in future posts.

Fire of GeniusRelease date for Lincoln: The Fire of Genius is September 1, 2022.

While you’re here, check out the various posts on Lincolnian.org related to our recent Lincoln Memorial Centennial program. For those who missed it, C-SPAN will be replaying the event at 3 pm on June 18th on CSPAN2.

The book is available for pre-order on the Rowman & Littlefield website (Lyons Press is a trade imprint of Rowman). You can also pre-order it on Amazon and Barnes and Noble (click on the respective links to pre-order). Release date is scheduled for September 1, 2022.

The book is 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. That will also ensure you get informed of the release date AND will let you try for one of ten free hardcover copies of the book that I’ll be giving away this summer. I’ll also be giving away as many as a hundred e-books. [The book will also be put out on audio]

You also follow my author page on Facebook.

I’ll have much more about the book over the next few months, so join my mailing list here to keep informed.

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!

 

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My Busy Week at the Lincoln Memorial Centennial

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David J Kent Lincoln Memorial centennialThe Lincoln Memorial reaches its centennial this month and this past week was the culmination of a year’s worth of work to celebrate the iconic structure’s 100th birthday. Around this time last year, the Lincoln Group of DC, of which I am the current president, decided that we must have a magnificent event on the Memorial steps. We had done something similar in 2015 for the sesquicentennial of Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural speech so we followed the basic format. There were differences of course. We couldn’t really have a Lincoln reenactor for a memorial to his life and death, especially since it wasn’t dedicated until 57 years after his assassination. We also couldn’t just recapture the Civil War theme, nor did we want to exactly recapture the segregationist Jim Crow-era time of 1922. Plus, we would be working with the National Park Service, which would prefer not to be overly controversial. Still, there were issues from that 1922 dedication we wanted to address and there has been 100 years of history we wanted to show.

You can read background on the dedication ceremony on the Lincoln Group of DC website here, and here, and here. Click on the events tab on that website for more information about the speakers and the follow ups. In short, Chief Justice (and former president) William Howard Taft gave a speech and officially handed over the Memorial to then-current President Warren G. Harding. Lincoln’s son Robert was also there but did not speak. The only other speaker was Dr. Robert R. Moton, director of the Tuskegee Institute, a predominantly Black university in Alabama. Dr. Moton was not allowed to sit with the other dignitaries. He was forced to walk to the speaker stand, give his speech – which was censored to remove suggestions that Jim Crow laws were counter to the nation’s unfinished business – and then returned to the segregated section of the audience.

We also understood that much has changed over the 100-year history of the Memorial. While the original focus was on unity – the reconciliation between (whites in) the North and South – the meaning has grown and broadened into a symbol of civil rights and hope for all Americans. Famed contralto singer Marian Anderson sang on its steps in 1939 after having been refused a concert at the “whites only” Constitution Hall. Martin Luther King gave his “I Have a Dream” speech on the steps in 1963, the 100th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. Most modern presidents incorporate the Memorial in their inauguration programs, including that of Barack Obama, our nation’s first African American president. We wanted to capture this evolution as well as the design and art of the building and its iconic seated Lincoln statue. To cover the art and architecture we brought in Lincoln and Daniel Chester French expert Harold Holzer. Edna Greene Medford traced the evolution in meaning over the last century. Frank Smith discussed the U.S. Colored Troops role in the fight for freedom. Our keynote speaker was Charlotte Morris, the current president of Tuskegee University, the institution run by Robert Moton 100 years ago when he spoke at the dedication. Morris contrasted that time, and unlike Moton’s censored speech, was forthright in both the greatness of Lincoln and the dangers to his vision expressed by today’s society. She received a standing ovation. We had representatives from the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the U.S. to cover their involvement in the memory of Lincoln. The first Native American director of the National Park Service, Chuck Sams, offered some history of the Memorial. Sarah Johnson of the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church (“Lincoln’s Church”) gave a Lincoln-inspired invocation. We also had music. The national anthem and two songs from Marian Anderson’s 1939 concert were sung by the amazing Felicia Curry while the United States Marine Band “The President’s Own” Brass Quintet provided pre-, inter-, and postludes. The words of poet Edwin Markham and Lincoln’s own words etched in the walls of the Memorial were powerfully performed by stage and screen actor Stephen Lang. We were also able to bring in four descendants of Robert Moton to be present at the event.

The program was broadcast on C-SPAN, CBS, and ABC. Not only was I the main organizer of the event, I was also the Master of Ceremonies. 

That was Sunday morning on May 22nd. But that was only one of the series of events the Lincoln Group organized to celebrate the centennial of the Lincoln Memorial.

On Tuesday (5/10), we sponsored and I moderated a virtual presentation by the authors of a book on the Lincoln Memorial, a sort of prelude to the festivities.

On Thursday (5/19), I attended a special Library of Congress one-night-only exhibit of Lincoln’s reading copy of the Gettysburg Address and many other documents related to the Memorial.

Also, on Thursday (5/19), I attended a program at the Arts Club of Washington that the Lincoln Group supported featuring Harold Holzer.

On Saturday morning (5/21), I joined the Lincoln in Washington walking tour led by the Lincoln Group’s immediate past president John O’Brien.

Saturday afternoon (5/21), I attended a special showing of “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” at the AFI Silver Theatre, which the Lincoln Group co-sponsored and Ed Epstein of our group introduced.

Sunday morning (5/22), the program described above, which I emceed.

Sunday afternoon (5/22), we hosted the speakers and members of the Board for a luncheon at Clyde’s in downtown Washington, DC

Monday evening (5/23), I spoke a few words to open a special dramatic reading of a new play called “Freedom’s Temple” by Bryce Stenzel. The Lincoln Group co-sponsored this event with the DC Civil War Roundtable. The event was produced by the Lincoln Group’s Debbie Jackson.

Tuesday (5/24), I attended virtually a program developed by the U.S. Capitol Historical Society and which the Lincoln Group supported.

In between, there were plenty of emails flying back and forth on other issues.

So, if you’ve noticed I hadn’t written much in the last week, that was why. Things won’t necessarily be getting less busy in the weeks to come, although the emphasis will shift. Most immediately is paying the bills for all of the above. One of the flying emails was to add an event in September that I’ll write more about later. We also have an in-person dinner event scheduled for June 14th that will require some significant organization. There’s a Lincoln Group board meeting scheduled for June 25th that I will chair. I have two travel trips coming up soon. Two other Lincoln Group members and I will be repeating a four-session course (two of which are mine) in October for Encore Learning. The Lincoln Forum is in November, which should have events both for me personally and the Lincoln Group. I’m hoping for another big trip in December.

And, of course, my new book, Lincoln: The Fire of Genius, will be released on September 1st. I have a book launch and several presentations scheduled for September (with likely several more to come), and at some point soon I need to prepare them for delivery.

I’ll have more photos from the Lincoln Memorial Centennial up on this website and on Facebook soon, as well as on the Lincoln Group of DC website: Lincolnian.org. The photo of me at the Lincoln Memorial above is courtesy of Bruce Guthrie.

Fire of GeniusThe book is available for pre-order on the Rowman & Littlefield website (Lyons Press is a trade imprint of Rowman). You can also pre-order it on Amazon and Barnes and Noble (click on the respective links to pre-order). Release date is scheduled for September 1, 2022.

The book is 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. That will also ensure you get informed of the release date AND will let you try for one of ten free hardcover copies of the book that I’ll be giving away this summer. I’ll also be giving away as many as a hundred e-books. [The book will also be put out on audio]

You also follow my author page on Facebook.

I’ll have much more about the book over the next few months, so join my mailing list here to keep informed.

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!

 

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Lincoln Oversees the Capture of Norfolk

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Navy Yard at NorfolkMay 10, 1862 was a busy day for President Abraham Lincoln. He had arrived at Fortress Monroe days before and today, along with Secretaries Chase and Stanton, accompanied General Wool to a landing place where troops were preparing to march on Norfolk. Lincoln served as his own commanding general in Hampton Roads, directing and pushing for the taking of Norfolk and the Gosport Navy Yard in nearby Portsmouth. He even guided a landing party on Confederate-held soil in search of a spot for the Union Army to make their trek into the city as it was being abandoned by the Confederates. Following this excursion, Lincoln returned to Fortress Monroe and remained there the rest of the day.

But he was also engaged with the progress of the campaign. Learning that troops commanded by Colonel Carr and General Mansfield were not taking part in the attack on Norfolk, Lincoln became enraged. Bouncing his hat off the floor, he dictated a series or orders involving those troops. When there was some pushback by field commanders, Lincoln wrote Flag Officer Goldsborough to provide cover: “You are quite right in supposing the movement made by you and therein reported was made in accordance with my wishes verbally expressed to you in advance.” By 11 pm, General Wool informed Lincoln that Norfolk was now under Union control. As I wrote previously:

Meanwhile, all this activity being directed by Lincoln created problems for the CSS Virginia. Unwilling to take on the Monitor and its supporting ships, the Virginia‘s commander began preparations to run the ship up into the James River. Unfortunately, removing ballast to reduce how low the ship sat in the water made the Virginia neither capable of moving into shallower water nor in a position to fight its way out to the sea. Facing an unfathomable situation, commander Josiah Tattnall opted to save his crew for the future and destroy the Virginia to keep it out of Union hands. Lincoln and others could see the burning hulk from the Monitor and Fort Monroe. The Confederacy’s first ironclad was no more.

As they made their way back to Washington on the USS Baltimore, Secretary Chase wrote his daughter:

“So ended a brilliant week’s campaign of the President,” Chase wrote. He was “quite certain that if he [Lincoln] had not come down, Norfolk would still have been in the possession of the enemy & the Merrimac as grim & defiant & as much a terror as ever.”

This was the only case of a sitting president taking active command of troops in the field during a time of war.

As busy as he was trying to keep the country together during its greatest trial, Lincoln spent much of his time encouraging a more active, strategic warfare. He recognized that the North’s strength was that it had the greater numbers while the South had the greater ability to concentrate forces due to its defensive nature. Just as he did in Norfolk, he pushed his generals to “make our advantage an over-match of his; and this can only be done by menacing him with superior forces at different points, at the same time.” Often, that meant serving as his own General-in-Chief and making things happen.

More on this topic in Lincoln: The Fire of Genius.

Fire of GeniusThe book is available for pre-order on the Rowman & Littlefield website (Lyons Press is a trade imprint of Rowman). You can also pre-order it on Amazon and Barnes and Noble (click on the respective links to pre-order). Release date is scheduled for September 1, 2022.

The book is 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. That will also ensure you get informed of the release date AND will let you try for one of ten free hardcover copies of the book that I’ll be giving away this summer. I’ll also be giving away as many as a hundred e-books. [The book will also be put out on audio]

You also follow my author page on Facebook.

I’ll have much more about the book over the next few months, so join my mailing list here to keep informed.

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.

[Photo of The Navy Yard at Norfolk. Harper’s Weekly, 1861. Courtesy Library of Congress.]

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Lincoln’s First Temporary Insanity Case

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Abraham LincolnAbraham Lincoln once advised in the prosecution of Isaac Wyant, who had his arm amputated after being shot in a border dispute with Anson Rusk. Following his recovery, Wyant sought out and shot Rusk four times, then pleaded not guilty by reason of temporary insanity. Lincoln’s old friend Leonard Swett was on the side of the defense.

The previous June, the two men had been arguing and Wyant attacked Rusk with a large knife. To protect himself, Rusk pulled a pistol and shot Wyant in the arm. Between the damage done and the ensuing infection, Wyant’s arm was amputated. Claiming to go to Indiana to be far away from Rusk, Wyant instead stalked Rusk, eventually following him into the courthouse. The DeWitt Courier later reported the incident:

Rusk entered the office of the county Clerk and was standing behind the stove with his arms folded, when Wyant opened the door and commenced firing an Allen revolver at him. The first ball struck Rusk in the side, the second in the shoulder, and the third ball entered his arm. Wyant then stood over the fallen man, put the pistol to his head and fired the fourth shot, the ball passing entirely through the head, and from the orifice it made oozed the brains. Rusk lived near an hour after, but never spoke, we believe. His murderer, Wyant, tried to make his escape, but was secured a short distance from the courthouse and conveyed [back into the] building. Shortly after he was taken to prison and securely ironed. It is thought nothing will save him from hanging, as a responsible witness was in the clerk’s office at the time of the murder. We understand that the wife of Rusk, who was enceinte at the time of his murder, and her child, which was prematurely born, are not expected to live from one minute to another, and perhaps may be dead now. If they die Wyant will be a triple murderer, and consequently, he should suffer the severest penalty of the law. Circuit court is now in session, but it is thought his trial will not take place this term. Some think there will be a change of venue.
Wyant had been given chloroform by the doctors who amputated his arm, and it was widely believed at the time that chloroform could induced insanity. A long list of doctors testified that the use of chloroform had caused a temporary insanity in Wyant to the point where Wyant was legally insane at the time of the shooting.

This was one of the first such “insanity defense” cases ever tried. Lincoln thought Wyant was faking the mental illness, but the jury found Wyant persuasive and sent him to the state mental hospital for treatment. The temporary insanity defense would later be used successfully by Congressman Daniel Sickles after he shot his wife’s lover in front of witnesses across the street from the White House.

A more substantive murder case, nicknamed the Almanac Trial, hit closer to home and brought into play one of Lincoln’s favorite scientific pursuits, astronomy. Lincoln’s role in setting significant legal precedents through science and technology related cases is discussed in greater depth in Lincoln: The Fire of Genius: How Abraham Lincoln’s Commitment to Science and Technology Helped Modernize America, now available for pre-order.

Pre-order Lincoln: The Fire of Genius now on Amazon and Barnes and Noble (click on the respective links to pre-order). The price is likely to drop before the final shipment, and any pre-orders will automatically get charged the lower price at fulfillment. Pre-ordering now helps the publisher get a sense of the interest, which could mean a bigger print run. So please go ahead and pre-order without worries. While you’re there, check out my other books.

The book is 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. That will also ensure you get informed of the release date AND will let you try for one of ten free hardcover copies of the book that I’ll be giving away this summer. I’ll also be giving away as many as a hundred e-books. [The book will also be put out on audio]

You also follow my author page on Facebook.

I’ll have much more about the book over the next few months, so join my mailing list here to keep informed.

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!

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Lincoln’s Day Fretting About the Monitor and the Merrimack

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CSS VirginiaAbraham Lincoln spent much of his day on March 9, 1862 fretting over the battle of the ironclads. The Union ironclad Monitor had fought to a draw with the Confederate ironclad Virginia (former the USS Merrimack) at Hampton Roads, Virginia. The Virginia had been created from the burnt out hull of the Merrimack, left behind at Gosport Navy Yard at the beginning of the war after the state of Virginia seceded. The Merrimack was converted by the Confederate Navy into a seemingly indestructible metallic monster soon to prey on Union ships. Even though the ship was now officially the Virginia, the alliteration of Monitor and Merrimack (and the end of the Confederacy) means most people refer to the ship by its former name, both then and now.*

The day’s consternation started early as Lincoln received a report from General Wool at Fortress Monroe that the Merrimack had destroyed the USS Cumberland and the USS Congress, two Navy frigates, whose wooden hulls and lack of maneuverability were no match for the ironclad behemoth the Confederacy had created. A dispatch received later in the day, described the arrival of the Monitor in time to save USS Minnesota from destruction, then engagement in a pitched battle with the Merrimack. Both vessels were damaged and there was no clear winner. Ironically, both vessels would retreat for repairs and would never fight another battle before their destruction – the Monitor in a storm and the Merrimack/Virginia by its crew.

During the day there was quite some excitement in Washington. Hampton Roads is within easy steaming distance of the Capitol and many in the city were fearful it would simply come up the Potomac and attack. Secretary of War Edwin Stanton was particularly anxious about this possibility, and while there was no actual attempt to do so, the fear of an attack kept everyone busy. At one point, Lincoln took a carriage with Senator Browning to the Washington Navy Yard to confer with Commander John Dahlgren, a recurring technical advisor who Lincoln called on repeatedly. While Stanton began plans to block river traffic, word came in that relieved those fears. Lincoln followed reports from his regular perch in the War Department’s telegraph office.

Lincoln had played a major role in cutting through the mutual disgust between the Monitor‘s designer John Ericsson and the Navy Department – the Navy had scapegoated Ericsson for a cannon mishap on the USS Princeton in 1844, which resulted in the deaths of two cabinet members and nearly injuring then-President John Tyler – and he would play a major role in the destruction of the Merrimack/Virginia two months later. I’ll have more on that incident in Lincoln: The Fire of Genius.

*Sometimes the spelling leaves off the “k” to make it Merrimac, but having grown up near the Merrimack River for which it is named, the “k” stays in. To confuse matters more, there was a USS Merrimac during the Civil War, a sidewheel steamer first used by the Confederate Navy but captured and used by the United States Navy.

Pre-order Lincoln: The Fire of Genius now on Amazon and Barnes and Noble (click on the respective links to pre-order). The price is likely to drop before the final shipment, and any pre-orders will automatically get charged the lower price at fulfillment. Pre-ordering now helps the publisher get a sense of the interest, which could mean a bigger print run. So please go ahead and pre-order without worries. While you’re there, check out my other books.

The book is 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. That will also ensure you get informed of the release date AND will let you try for one of ten free hardcover copies of the book that I’ll be giving away this summer. I’ll also be giving away as many as a hundred e-books. [The book will also be put out on audio]

You also follow my author page on Facebook.

I’ll have much more about the book over the next few months, so join my mailing list here to keep informed.

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.

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Lincoln and the Arctic Explorer

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Isaac Israel HayesAbraham Lincoln had a knack for meeting Arctic explorers. On March 1, 1862, Lincoln wrote to Secretary of War Edwin Stanton:

Dr. Isaac I. Hayes, of Dr. Kane’s Arctic expedition, and more recently of an Arctic expedition headed by himself, is an applicant for Brigade Surgeon; and I would like for him to be appointed at once, if consistent with the rules. Yours truly A. LINCOLN

Hayes was a bit of an adventurer. Born in eastern Pennsylvania, he was raised on his family’s farm and attended a school run by Quakers, where while still a teenager he became an assistant teacher of civil engineering and mathematics. By the time he was 20 years old he was in medical school, then shortly thereafter signed on ship’s surgeon for the Second Grinnell Expedition led by Elisha Kane. The Kane Expedition left New York harbor in 1853 headed for the Arctic, in particular to search of the lost Franklin expedition. Over the course of his ensuing explorations, Hayes mapped the previously unexplored Ellesmere Island. The expedition caused near starvation (his group subsisted on lichens) and the amputation of three frostbitten toes.

Lincoln may have been inspired by Hayes’s lecture tour, which included the Smithsonian Institution. He became one of the most prolific lecturers and writers on the Arctic of his time. After his distinguished Civil War service as head of Satterlee General Hospital in Philadelphia, Hayes wrote a book on his Arctic experiences: The Open Polar Sea: A Narrative of a Voyage of Discovery towards the North Pole, in the Schooner United States.

Hayes wasn’t the only ice-bound explorer Lincoln associated with. Charles Wilkes, who would during the war instigate the “Trent Affair” that almost started a second war with England, had previously led the first United States Exploring Expedition (1838-1841) in the South Seas, including Antarctica. Lincoln would meet in the White House with Herman Melville, who some historians suggest may have based his Captain Ahab in Moby Dick on Charles Wilkes. Lincoln also met in the White House with Louis Agassiz, a Swiss-American scientist who is well known for his study of glaciers. [There is much more about Agassiz and Lincoln in The Fire of Genius]

Lincoln had given his lecture on Discoveries and Inventions prior to becoming president and told Louis Agassiz in the White House that he had plans to expand upon it after his second term. That opportunity never came, but Lincoln’s interest in science and technology did become important both in winning the Civil War and modernizing America.

I take a deeper dive into all of these facets in Lincoln: The Fire of Genius, now available for pre-order.

Pre-order Lincoln: The Fire of Genius now on Amazon and Barnes and Noble (click on the respective links to pre-order). The price is likely to drop before the final shipment, and any pre-orders will automatically get charged the lower price at fulfillment. Pre-ordering now helps the publisher get a sense of the interest, which could mean a bigger print run. So please go ahead and pre-order without worries. While you’re there, check out my other books.

The book is 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. That will also ensure you get informed of the release date AND will let you try for one of ten free hardcover copies of the book that I’ll be giving away this summer. I’ll also be giving away as many as a hundred e-books. [The book will also be put out on audio]

You also follow my author page on Facebook.

I’ll have much more about the book over the next few months, so join my mailing list here to keep informed.

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: Wiki Commons]

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Abraham Lincoln Accuses Russia of Pure Despotism

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Abraham Lincoln PeoriaAbraham Lincoln accused Russia of being a place “where despotism can be taken pure,” openly dedicated to the exercise of absolute power and cruelly oppressive.

Long before the Russian Revolution in 1917 and the Soviet era, the Russia of Lincoln’s time had been ruled over by Tsar Nicholas I for three decades, succeeded by his son Nicholas II in 1855 (with whom Lincoln formed a sort of alliance). Analysts of the current Putin era suggest he wants to return to the Tsarist era more than the Soviet. Of course, the current crisis also has to do with protecting oil and gas pipelines that are the basis of the Russian economy and Putin’s kleptocracy. Much of this isn’t especially surprising.

In 1852, Lincoln helped organize a meeting of local leaders in Springfield, Illinois with Lajos Kossuth, the former Governor-President of Hungary. Hungary had undergone a political upheaval that I won’t go into here, but Kossuth had made his way in exile to the United States where he met, among many others, President Millard Fillmore. Kossuth sought to appeal to European immigrants in the Midwest, hence the meeting Lincoln arranged. Following the meeting, Lincoln and the other attendees issued a set of resolutions “on behalf of Hungarian freedom.” Among them was a resolution stating, “That the late inference of Russian in the Hungarian struggle was, in our opinion, such illegal and unwarrantable interference.” Resolution No. 7 said:

That we recognize in Governor Kossuth of Hungary the most worthy and distinguished representative of the cause of civil and religious liberty on the continent of Europe. A cause for which he and his nation struggled until they were overwhelmed by the armed intervention of a foreign despot, in violation of the more sacred principles of the laws of nature and of nations—principles held dear by the friends of freedom everywhere, and more especially by the people of these United States.

Which gets us to his accusation. In August 1855, Lincoln wrote a letter to his close friend and confidant Joshua Speed. The issue was the falling apart of the Whig Party that had defined Lincoln through most of his political career, and whether he should join the Republican Party that was arising out of its ashes. The alternative was the “Know-Nothing” Party, officially the American Party but defined by its secrecy of membership.

I am not a Know-Nothing. That is certain. How could I be? How can anyone who abhors the oppression of negroes, be in favor of degrading classes of white people? Our progress in degeneracy appears to me to be pretty rapid. As a nation, we began by declaring that “all men are created equal.” We now practically read it “all men are created equal, except negroes.” When the Know-Nothings get control, it will read “all men are created equal, except negroes, and foreigners, and Catholics.” When it comes to this, I should prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretense of loving liberty—to Russia, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure, and without the base alloy of hypocrisy.

Russia would become a sort of dumping ground for politicians President Lincoln wanted to get rid of for a time, including Simon Cameron after his failure as Secretary of War.

There was one interesting interaction with Russia late in Lincoln’s presidency, which involved “a continuous line of telegraph through that empire from our Pacific coast.” I’ll have more on that in a following post.

 

David J. Kent is President of the Lincoln Group of DC and the author of Lincoln: The Fire of Genius, now available for pre-order on Amazon and Barnes and Noble (click on the respective links to pre-order). His previous books include Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity, 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!

 

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The Time Abraham Lincoln Rejected Siamese Elephants in Favor of Steam

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King of Siam elephantsAbraham Lincoln rejects gift of elephants from Siam by pointing out the advantages of steam power. Lincoln would promote many scientific and technological improvements in his lifetime and his presidency.

On February 3, 1862, President Lincoln writes to the King of Siam declining the King’s offer of “a stock from which a supply of elephants might be raised on our own soil.” Understanding the importance of good diplomacy, Lincoln explains the climate of America was not conducive to raising elephants:

“This Government would not hesitate to avail itself of so generous an offer if the object were one which could be made practically useful in the present condition of the United States. Our political jurisdiction, however, does not reach a latitude so low as to favor the multiplication of the elephant…”

Lincoln goes on to note that “steam on land, as well as on water, has been our best and most efficient agent of transportation in internal commerce.”

Indeed, steam locomotives, steamships, and steam-powered ironclad gunboats on inland waterways have become major contributors to the Northern military strategy during the Civil War. I discuss this more deeply in my forthcoming book, Lincoln: The Fire of Genius, scheduled for release on September 1, 2022 and available for pre-order now on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

While the offer of elephants was rejected, the King of Siam (present day Thailand) had also sent along royal gifts to Lincoln, including “a sword of costly materials and exquisite workmanship; a photographic likeness of Your Majesty and of Your Majesty’s beloved daughter; and also two elephants’ tusks of length and magnitude such as indicate that they could have belonged only to an animal which was a native of Siam.” Lincoln accepted those gifts for the people of the United States, explaining:

Your Majesty’s letters show an understanding that our laws forbid the President from receiving these rich presents as treasures. They are therefore accepted in accordance with Your Majesty’s desire as tokens of your good will and friendship for the American People. Congress being now in session at this capital, I have had great pleasure in making known to them this manifestation of Your Majesty’s munificence and kind consideration. Under their directions the gifts will be placed among the archives of the Government, where they will remain perpetually as tokens of mutual esteem and pacific dispositions more honorable to both nations than any trophies of conquest could be.

No Siamese elephants reached the United States, but many camels did in an experiment conducted in the 1850s deemed the “Camel Corps.” As European-heritage settlers moved west displacing Native American populations, they found the desert climates of the southwest inhospitable to horses and mules. Camels were imported and found to be especially adept at handling the dry climate. The experiment was dropped, and seemingly forgotten completely, by the Civil War, but that is a story in itself.

[Photo is, not surprisingly, a photoshopped image showing elephants with the 3rd Indiana Cavalry at Petersburg. Thanks to Melissa Winn at CWT for presenting the image on FB in 2020. And yes, those are African elephants, not Asian elephants. Apparently the photoshopper didn’t know the difference.]

Pre-order Lincoln: The Fire of Genius now on Amazon and Barnes and Noble (click on the respective links to pre-order). The price is likely to drop before the final shipment, and any pre-orders will automatically get charged the lower price at fulfillment. Pre-ordering now helps the publisher get a sense of the interest, which could mean a bigger print run. So please go ahead and pre-order without worries. While you’re there, check out my other books.

The book is 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. That will also ensure you get informed of the release date AND will let you try for one of ten free hardcover copies of the book that I’ll be giving away this summer. I’ll also be giving away as many as a hundred e-books. [The book will also be put out on audio]

You also follow my author page on Facebook.

I’ll have much more about the book over the next few months, so join my mailing list here to keep informed.

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!

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The Year in a Writer’s Life – 2021

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David J Kent 2019The year in a writer’s life actually went much more to plan than the year in science traveling and even the year of reading time. On New Year’s Eve I had signed a contract with Rowman and Littlefield to publish my long-researched book on Lincoln’s interest in science. The deadline was July 1st, so the first six months of the year were spent diligently making sense of thousands of hours of information stored in my head, on my computer, and a myriad of handwritten and printed notes. More on the book at the end of this post.

As has been the case for the last year or two, royalties continue to drip in from my three previous traditionally published books on Tesla, Edison, and Lincoln. I also get a little bit from the two self-published e-books on Amazon. Last year I reported that a Chinese-language version of Edison was in the works, but that apparently never happened. At least, I never saw any licensing fees or sales from it. Unfortunately, anyone ever remotely associated with my books at the old publisher has left, some willingly, some not so much, so getting information has become impossible. One the other hand, people have been reading more books, in part because COVID has limited the ability to do other things. Barnes and Noble remains the only large bookseller chain for new books, but after many years of declining sales (mostly due to Amazon) it projects opening new stores in 2022 and beyond. The new stores are smaller than the old behemoths, which is more efficient. The new private owner is optimistic. Every author in the world is pulling for them. I certainly need them open long enough to stock my book.

I don’t consider myself a “freelance writer” as much as a book author. Freelancers must constantly hustle to get projects, mostly small, with a constant stream necessary to keep the money flowing. I did enough of that in my consulting career and have little desire or incentive to do it as a writer. Plus, it doesn’t really fit my writing mentality. That said, my writing life is incredibly, sometimes frustratingly, busy. Here are some examples for 2021.

  • Wrote and delivered four presentations on Zoom (not counting my participation in dozens of additional Zoom meetings).
  • Developed and presented a short course on Lincoln: Savior of the Nation for Encore Learning (continued education for retired people)
  • Wrote three book reviews for the Lincoln Herald, an academic journal.
  • Produced eight book reviews for the Lincolnian, the newsletter of the Lincoln Group of DC.
  • Wrote dozens of posts for Lincolnian.org, the website blog of the Lincoln Group of DC.
  • Wrote dozens of posts for this author website and my side blog at Hot White Snow.
  • Had three more contributions in the “From Our Readers” section of Writer’s Digest magazine.
  • Was interviewed (alongside former colleague Bob Scheuplein) on Facebook Live by filmmaker Annabel Park about climate change options
  • Entered six writing contests.
  • Worked on turning a presentation and some blog posts on Confederate monuments into a book to come out sometime in 2022.
  • Started a new WIP.

Now back to the book from Rowman and Littlefield 

The manuscript was due to the publisher by the beginning of July, and I dutifully turned it in with a week to spare. They accepted it shortly thereafter and paid me the second half of the advance. Then I waited. And waited. And waited. Copy edits on each of my previous books had all arrived within a few weeks, so after adding in some substantial buffer time with no further response I contacted the editor. And that’s when the COVID realization hit. As with many industries, COVID has caused a lot of problems in the publishing industry, from editors working at home to staff getting sick (or worse) to backlogs on production to basic issues like lack of paper. All of that created a backup in the publishing pipeline. My book was originally scheduled for release in February. With the delay of other books ahead of me, my book got kicked to the following “season,” which in the publishing business is broken into half years. In an instant, February became September 1st. That is now officially my release date. This month the final process starts in earnest, but I’ve already seen a mockup of the cover design and we should have the book up on the Amazon and Barnes and Noble websites for pre-order sometime in the spring.

I’ll have more details in follow up posts, including the big cover reveal, big news about the well-known author (and notable politico) who wrote the foreword, and information about what the book cover.

What is the plan for 2022?

As the year progresses, I’ll be doing more marketing promotion for the book. I have already scheduled two presentations for September, including my official book launch in association with the Lincoln Group of DC. Many more presentations will be on the schedule, probably mostly virtual but hopefully also getting to see people in person.

Book reviews will continue to be a large part of my writing for 2022. Those who get the Lincoln Herald should see a few come out, with more going into the pipeline. I also have a review in preparation for the Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association. These are both academic journals, but I also plan to submit to general magazines such as Civil War Times. My book review column (8 reviews/year) will continue in the Lincolnian newsletter. I’ll also be posting reviews at the Abraham Lincoln Bibliography Project.

I’ll be publishing a book related to the Confederate monument debate sometime this year. The goal is to put the discussion into perspective in a respectful manner while adhering to factual history. Look for the book on Amazon in the spring.

The fall will hopefully see an excerpt from my book in Civil War Times. I’m also hoping to get an excerpt in Smithsonian magazine.

I’ll continue to write blog posts on Lincolnian.org, DavidJKent-Writer.com, and HotWhiteSnow.wordpress.com.

As time permits, I’ll write fiction pieces and enter writing contests.

Finally, I have a new work in progress. I’ve been researching an event in Lincoln’s life and putting together a proposal for a book. I hope to get that proposal to my agent and in front of publishers long before the September release of the current book. If I can do that, I may have another new book in stores by late 2023. 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!

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The Year in Science Traveling -2021

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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]