Tag: Abraham Lincoln

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Lincoln and John Dahlgren, Weapons Guy

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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!

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Lincoln on the Importance of Education

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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.

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Lincoln’s Scientific Approach to Military Strategy

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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!

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

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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.

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Lincoln and McClellan’s Fatigued Horses

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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!

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Lincoln at the Exhibition

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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!

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Lincoln and Me Tour Harpers Ferry

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Harpers FerryPresident Lincoln took a special train to Harpers Ferry on October 1, 1862. I drove my car to the National Park Service visitors center on October 1, 2021. Lincoln reviewed the troops on Bolivar Heights. I climbed to the overlook on Maryland Heights. One hundred and fifty-nine years separated us, but I still felt his presence.

Lincoln was anxious about his commanding general, George McClellan. McClellan had brought a military success, of sorts, near Antietam creek just a few weeks before. More of a draw than a clear-cut victory despite McClellan’s staff finding Confederate General Lee’s plans wrapped around three cigars, it had been enough for Lincoln to issue his Emancipation Proclamation on September 22nd. Lincoln was not pleased with McClellan’s overall performance. McClellan complained incessantly that the enemy had decisively more troops, even when it was McClellan with the distinct numerical advantage. So Lincoln was coming to talk to McClellan in person.

Around 6 a.m. on the first day of October, Lincoln and entourage left Washington on a special train. Joining him were General McClernand, Ward Hill Lamon, Ozias Hatch, John Garrett (president of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad) and others. Arriving at Harpers Ferry at noon, Lincoln meets with General Sumners until General McClellan finally arrives in the early afternoon. McClellan and Lincoln visit the troops at Bolivar Heights. That night, Lincoln spends the night in Harpers Ferry. The next morning he visits more troops on the Maryland Heights and moves to McClellan’s headquarters for a strategic discussion and critical job review. While there, several iconic photos are taken by Alexander Gardner. A month later, Lincoln would finally relieve McClellan from command, permanently this time.

My visit began around 8 a.m. for a drive of just over an hour. The day was about as perfect as could be, with no clouds and a high temperature in the low 70s. A fog enveloped the valley as we approached, but quickly disappeared once I arrived in the lower town of Harpers Ferry. John Brown’s Fort was getting a paint job as I headed for the Maryland Heights trailhead. Not only is Harpers Ferry the intersection between Maryland, West Virginia, and Virginia, it’s also where three trails intersect – Maryland Heights,  the C & O Canal Towpath, and the Appalachian Trail. The railroad and foot bridges over the Potomac River (with the Shenandoah River sliding in from the right) lead into the gaping maw of the tunnel under the heights. A short walk up the towpath brought us to the trailhead. A constant uphill hike of about 1200 feet elevation gain brought us to the Heights overlook, where we snacked and replenished electrolytes before hiking back down to the town. A delightful lunch on the patio of the Coach House Grill capped a perfect visit.

A week earlier I had toured Williamsport and Falling Water, another area not far away that had hackled Lincoln. After the decisive Union victory in Gettysburg, Lincoln was displeased with General George Meade for his failure to attack and destroy Lee’s army, giving it time to cross the Potomac River upstream from Harpers Ferry. Lincoln wrote a blistering letter berating Meade, his failure prolonging the war another two years instead of ending it in late 1863. Lincoln never sent the letter. Having spewed his anger onto the page, he rethought the wisdom of chewing his arguably one of his better generals. Luckily for us, he saved it for posterity “never signed, never sent.”

Eventually Lincoln would find likeminded generals in Ulysses S. Grant, William T. Sherman, and Philip Henry Sheridan, along with Meade, who would be key to closing out the rest of the war. But his trip to Harpers Ferry and Antietam was to reassess his commander. McClellan was found wanting, and Lincoln fired him.

Unlike Lincoln, my trip to Harpers Ferry was a total success, and despite the sore muscles afterward, a wonderful experience.

[David J. Kent has been “Chasing Abraham Lincoln” for the last several years, with the COVID pandemic putting much of it on hold. With most responsible people now vaccinated, David will be doing more road trips on the trail of Lincoln. Stay tuned.]

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!

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Lincoln Draws on His Account at the Illinois Central Railroad

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Lincoln railroad comicOn June 23, 1854, Abraham Lincoln draws on his account at the Illinois Central Railroad. The ICRR had been a repeat source of work for the Lincoln, who had been focusing on his legal career after being relegated to the sidelines politically. He would not be in an elected position for eleven years. He did a variety of work for several railroads, but the ICRR by far was the most prolific and profitable. Still, he wasn’t making much money per case.

In this particular letter, Lincoln writes the ICRR attorney Mason Brayman in Chicago to indicate that he is collecting payment for a slew of small cases done for the railroad. He writes:

M. Brayman, Esq Bloomington
Dear Sir: Sept. 23, 1854

This is the last day of court here, and being about to leave, I have drawn on the I.C. R R Co or rather on you on their account, for $100, which the McLean County Bank have negociated for me. I have directed them to have the draft presented to you. Will you please see that it shall be honored?

The reason I have taken this liberty is, that since last fall, by your request I have declined all new business against the road, and out of which I suppose I could have realized several hundred dollars; have attended, both at DeWitt and here to a great variety of little business for the Co, most of which, however, remains unfinished, and have received nothing. I wish now to be charged with this sum, to be taken into account on settlement. Truly Yours &c A. LINCOLN

P.S. The draft is in favor of Mr. Pardee, who is Cashier of the Bank.

The other key element of the above letter is that he gave up opportunities to make money from individuals suing the ICRR. There were other cases in which Lincoln did work against the railroad, but these were outside of the retainer agreement.

And then there was the time that Lincoln sued the ICRR railroad directly for the sum of $5000. [Click on the link for that story]

Overall, railroad cases made up only four percent of Lincoln’s caseload overall, about 160 cases, but they were some of the most lucrative of his career. He tried cases for or against fourteen separate railroad companies, with some railroad names changing as lines merged or were replaced. Some of these cases set important precedents, both for railroad rights and worker rights. He would also be instrumental in the final determination of the transcontinental railroad route.

I look more at Lincoln’s work for, and against, the railroads in 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!

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Abraham Lincoln On Malpractice and Chicken Bones

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Lloyd Ostenforf drawingOn September 10, 1856, Abraham Lincoln wrote an affidavit in a medical malpractice case that involved chicken bones. It was the first medical malpractice case in McLean County.

A small number, less than one percent, of Lincoln’s cases required management of medical expert witnesses. He participated in at least thirty-nine medical-related cases, plus many of his forty-four murder cases needed such expertise. In this case, Lincoln creatively used chicken bones. Samuel Fleming suffered two broken legs when the chimney of a house fell on him during a raging fire in Bloomington, Illinois. Physicians Thomas Rogers and Eli Crothers set the severely damaged bones, saving both legs against the odds. Unfortunately, the right leg healed crooked and slightly shorter than the left. Rogers and Crothers agreed to reset the crooked right leg but Fleming stopped them midway complaining of unendurable pain. He then sued the doctors for malpractice. Defending the doctors, Lincoln demonstrated the difference in pliability between young and old bones using chicken bones. He argued that the doctors could have used the normal remedy for such damage by amputating both legs, but Fleming insisted on saving them.

As with so many cases, this one eventually resulted in a settlement, but Lincoln showed that he understood basic medical principles and could be creative in communicating them to a jury.

On this date in 1863, Lincoln was also involved in a medical case of a sort. He sent Dr. John Gray to Norfolk, Virginia to examine and collect evidence on the sanity or insanity of Dr. David Wright. Wright was a Unionist who stayed in Norfolk when the war started, but one day in June he encountered a column of U.S. Colored Troops (USCT) led by a white officer, Lt. Alanson Sanborn. Angry over the presence of black troops, Wright began yelling at them to leave. Sanborn ordered Wright to leave, but instead, Wright pulled his pistol and shot Sanborn, killing him. Wright pleaded temporary insanity (which had worked for Congressman Dan Sickles). Lincoln asked Gray to determine the case. Wright was found sane, convicted by a military commission, and hanged.

Without prejudice or malpractice.

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

[Graphic is a Lloyd Ostendorf print]

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!

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Lincoln and the Lost Townships Rebecca Letters…or Not

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Rebecca letter snippetI see you printed that long letter I sent you a spell ago—I’m quite encouraged by it, and can’t keep from writing again.

So begins the second letter of a series that has come to be known as the Lost Townships or the “Rebecca” letters since they were signed off on by that name. Lincoln wrote the second “Rebecca” letter, published in the Sangamo Journal on September 2, 1842. Eventually these letters would lead Lincoln into a duel with James Shields. But did he really write them?

He clearly wrote this second letter. He effectively admitted it as such during the ensuing imbroglio. But the first of the “Rebecca” letters was published in the Journal on August 19, 1842. Despite Lincoln’s letter taking credit for it, he almost certainly didn’t write the first letter. Most likely it was written by the same person who wrote an earlier series of letters from “Lost Townships,” which were printed in the Journal on February 10, May 5, May 26, and September 15, 1838, a full four years previously. There is no reliable evidence that Lincoln had anything to do with the earlier series of letters. Lincoln claims only to have written the second letter quoted above.

The letters didn’t stop there, however, and this is where it gets dicey. A week after Lincoln’s letter, on September 9, 1842, two more letters signed by “Rebecca” appeared in the Journal. The first, dated August 29, was fairly mild, but the second, dated September 8, was a more offensive personal attack on James Shields, the Illinois State Auditor, who was caught up in a controversy over acceptance of the State Bank bills for tax payments. This latter letter was written by Mary Todd and her friend Julia Jayne.

Keep in mind that Lincoln and Mary Todd had previously been engaged, only to have their engagement suddenly end in January 1841 when, presumably, Lincoln got cold feet. They had secretly begun courting again some time in 1842 and would suddenly be married on November 4th, shortly after the letters appeared in print.

This last letter, along with a piece of doggerel signed “Cathleen,” which was printed in the Journal on September 16th, likely was the catalyst for James Shields’ fury. He rushed to the Journal‘s editor, Simeon Francis, and demanded to know who wrote the letters. In an act of chivalry, or something, Lincoln allowed Francis to tell Shields it was Lincoln, even though Lincoln had only written one of them, and certainly not the most offensive one.

The letters had caused quite an uproar in Springfield, whose populace in the still-small town capital relied on any spicy news for entertainment. Feeling ridiculed, with his vanity assailed, Shields challenged Lincoln to a duel. Dueling was illegal in Illinois, so it eventually was scheduled to be held on Bloody Island, a sort of no-mans-land in the middle of the Mississippi River.

Needless to say, both Lincoln and Shields survived the incident. Shields went on to serve as Senator for three different states (the only person to do so), and Lincoln went on to save the Union and end slavery.

But that’s only half the story. For the rest, you’ll have to wait just a little longer.

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.

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