Tag: Abraham Lincoln

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Two Life Masks of Abraham Lincoln…And His Hands Too!

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A few days ago I posted three views of Abraham Lincoln, a compilation of three photographs I took within the span of a few days in Washington D.C. I’ll have more on the second and third photos soon; for now let’s focus on the first one. The life masks and hands of our 16th President, Abraham Lincoln.

Back in the day, that is, the middle of the 1800s, sculptors would make a mask of the subjects face and head to later use for busts and full length sculptures. A Chicago-based sculptor named Leonard Volk approached Lincoln in the midst of the famous 1858 Illinois Senate race against Stephen A. Douglas. After two years of lobbying Volk finally convinced Lincoln to sit down in the spring of 1860, not long after Lincoln had returned from the East where he wowed the crowds at Cooper Union and in various cities of New England.

Abraham Lincoln Volk life mask

The casting process, according to Lincoln (and Abraham Lincoln Online), was “anything but agreeable.” Volk himself noted that:

“it was about an hour before the mold was ready to be removed, and being all in one piece, with both ears perfectly taken, it clung pretty hard, as the cheek-bones were higher than the jaws at the lobe of the ear. He bent his head low and took hold of the mold, and gradually worked it off without breaking or injury; it hurt a little, as a few hairs of the tender temples pulled out with the plaster and made his eyes water.”

The hands were actually cast a couple of months later in Lincoln’s Springfield home. Both are shown clasped, but the right hand holds a short piece of wood. Not surprisingly for Lincoln, the wood has a story. Again from Abraham Lincoln Online:

[Volk] wanted Lincoln to hold something in his right hand, so Lincoln produced a broom handle from his wood shed and began whittling the end of it. When Volk told him he didn’t have to smooth the edges Lincoln replied, “I thought I would like to have it nice.” Since Lincoln had been shaking hands in congratulations for getting the Republican nomination for President, Volk noted that “the right hand appeared swollen as compared to the left,” and that “this difference is distinctly shown in the cast.”

Abraham Lincoln hands

Ah, but there is a second life mask. Cast in February 1865, just weeks before the end of the Civil War and Lincoln’s tragic assassination, sculptor Clark Mills applied oil to Lincoln’s face, followed by a thin layer of plaster. Unlike the Volk mask, which came off in one piece, the second life mask fell “off in large pieces” that “were then reassembled to form the finished mask.”

Abraham Lincoln Mills life mask

Just one look at the two masks can show how the war (and illness) wore on the man and his face. The difference is striking, and disheartening.

Volk and Mills masks

I was lucky enough to see the masks and hands in the National Portrait Gallery, one of the Smithsonian’s many museums open free to the public. The attendant in the gallery told me that the sculptures had only returned to the museum about two weeks before, having been on tour. He expected them to go back out on tour in about six months. You can also see them in the Library of Congress in this short video from the History Channel.

Of course, why dawdle over some heads and hands when you can sit with Abraham Lincoln in his entirety? More on the second photo later.

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

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Abraham Lincoln Dies – April 15, 1865

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Abraham LincolnAbraham Lincoln died today. Well, 148 150 years ago today. He was shot by John Wilkes Booth while Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln were in Ford’s Theatre watching the comedic play, Our American Cousin. It was April 14th, 1865. Good Friday. He was carried across the street to the Petersen House where he died the next morning, April 15, at 7:22 am. “Now he belongs to the ages,” spoke Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, before engaging in a 12-day chase that ended with the death of the assassin.

Abraham Lincoln's box Ford's Theatre

All of this is the stuff of history, well known to most everyone. Less well known are some of the fascinating details. For example, as the crowd at the theater slowly came to realize what had happened a cry rang out “Is there a surgeon in the house?” There was, Dr. Charles A. Leale, a recent graduate of Bellevue Hospital Medical College and commissioned as assistant surgeon only six days previously. As luck would have it, Leale was seated in the dress circle of Ford’s Theater that night, mere steps from Lincoln’s box. His quick action likely prolonged Lincoln’s life by several hours, though he couldn’t save him from his ultimate fate. Leale’s clinical report gives us a detailed record of the event.

The gun used by Booth was a Philadelphia deringer, a small large-bore pistol fired by loading a percussion cap, some black gunpowder, and a lead ball. Since it can only fire a single shot without reloading, Booth dropped the gun on the floor of the box, slashed Major Henry Rathbone with a large knife, then leaped to the stage. The gun now is on display in the museum of Ford’s Theatre.

John Wilkes Booth derringer

Into trivia? Here’s something with which you impress your friends. Deringers were made with “rifling,” that is, grooves in the barrel to spin the ball. Unlike most derringers where the rifling creates a clockwise twist, the one used by Booth had rifling that turned counterclockwise. No matter what the twist, the rifling is designed to improve accuracy by creating a more predictable flight of the ball or bullet. Needless to say the direction of rifling was a moot point since Booth shot Lincoln at very close range.

Ah, but what happened to the lead ball? Well, it now sits in a glass case at the National Museum of Health and Medicine in Silver Spring, Maryland. Along with it are several skull fragments, just in case you’re into “morbid oddities.”

There is much more to come on the science of Abraham Lincoln. Stay tuned!

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David J. Kent has been a scientist for over thirty years, is an avid science traveler, and an independent Abraham Lincoln historian. He is the author of Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and the e-book Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time. He is currently writing a book on Thomas Edison.

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Recent Abraham Lincoln book acquisitions

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Abraham LincolnJust this year alone (so far) I have acquired 19 books on Abraham Lincoln, plus two magazines focused on specific aspects of the Civil War. Most of these are recent copyrights. The seemingly old ones in the list that follows are actually more recent reprints (e.g., Halleck 1862 is not really a first edition from that era, much to my chagrin; and the Illinois Central Railroad Company 1905 is a modern disappointment).

The other dates reflect the actual age of the books. About half are confirmed first editions. Only one of the books in the list is signed, but ah, what a gem it is. Tony Kushner is the screenwriter for the Steven Spielberg Lincoln movie that won Daniel Day-Lewis his unprecedented third Best Actor Oscar. He signed a limited number of a special cloth edition (i.e., hardcover) at the Abraham Lincoln Book Shop in Chicago. And I have one.

Okay, enjoy the list while I work on my proposal. Will be back soon.

Anderson, Dwight G. Abraham Lincoln: The Quest for Immortality 1982
Berg, Scott W. 38 Nooses: Lincoln, Little Crow, and the Beginning of the Frontier’s End 2012
Boritt, Gabor S. (ed) The Lincoln Enigma: The Changing Faces of an American Icon 2001
Cromie, Alice A Tour Guide to the Civil War: The Complete State-by-State Guide to Battlegrounds, Landmarks, Museums, Relics, and Sites (3rd Edition, Revised) 1990
Eliot, Alexander Abraham Lincoln: An Illustrated Biography 1985
Gary, Ralph Following in Lincoln’s Footsteps: A Complete Annotated Reference to Hundreds of Historical Sites Visited by Abraham Lincoln 2001
Halleck, Henry Wager Elements of Military Art and Science 1862
Hartwig, D. Scott To Antietam Creek: The Maryland Campaign of September 1862 2012
Hirsch, David and Van Haften, Dan Barack Obama, Abraham Lincoln, and the Structure of Reason 2012
Holzer, Harold Lincoln: President-Elect: Abraham Lincoln and the Great Secession Winter 1860-1861 2008
Illinois Central Railroad Company Abraham Lincoln As Attorney for the Illinois Central Railroad Company 1905
Kushner, Tony Lincoln: The Screenplay 2012
Lamon, Ward H. The Life of Abraham Lincoln; From His Birth to his Inauguration as President (Illustrated Edition) 2013
Marvel, William (ed) The Monitor Chronicles: One Sailor’s Account: Today’s Campaign to Recover the Civil War Wreck 2000
Nesbitt, Mark Ghosts of Gettysburg: Spirits, Apparitions and Haunted Places of the Battlefield 1991
Redkey, Edwin S. (Ed) A Grand Army of Black Men 1992
Spiegel, Allen D. A. Lincoln: Esquire: A Shrewd, Sophisticated Lawyer in His Time 2002
Still, William N., Jr., Taylor, John M., and Delaney, Norman C. Raiders and Blockaders: The American Civil War Afloat 1998
Wideman, John C. Naval Warfare: Courage and Combat on the Water 1997
Railroads in the War (magazine) 1991
The Hunter Becomes the Prey (magazine) 2004

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Happy Birthday Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin (and a book review of Rebel Giants)

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Abraham LincolnEach born on February 12, 1809 in very different parts of the world, Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin never met. Darwin spent five years traveling the world on The Beagle and eventually defined how we think about life. Lincoln spent four years staying pretty much in Washington DC and eventually came to define how we think of leadership.

To examine these two men who each went on to have a dramatic impact on the future, I review a book called Rebel Giants: The Revolutionary Lives of Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin, by David R. Contosta. The author takes us back and forth between the parallel lives of these two great thinkers.

Parallel in terms of age and impact, but not on much else it seems. While Contosta notes that they both lost their mothers in childhood, had strained relations with their fathers, went “through years of searching for a direction in their lives,” and struggled with religious doubt, the similarities come off as largely contrived. The differences are much more evident. Lincoln was born a poor pioneer while Darwin inherited wealth from his father and wife (an heiress to the Wedgewood pottery fortune). Lincoln went to school “by littles” while Darwin attended the best schools money could buy. Lincoln was of generally robust health, though did sometimes suffer from depression, while Darwin had severe health problems all his life. Lincoln sought out politics and the enamor of the crowds while Darwin was largely reclusive, preferring to let his writing and others carry his work forward.

Darwin 1854Still, the book toggles between Lincoln’s life and Darwin’s life, comparing the two at key junctures in their maturation as thinkers, family men, and leaders. Because they were the same age many of these life choices occurred at roughly the same period of time. Contosta notes that both put off making decisions as to their life’s work since neither really wanted to follow too closely in the footsteps of their fathers. Lincoln traveled down the Mississippi on a flat boat before settling for some years in New Salem, Illinois. Darwin traveled around the world by ship for five years doing the research that would eventually lead to his most famous works. Once this phase was completed they each “found their calling,” Lincoln in politics and the law, Darwin in development and experimentation on what would eventually be called evolution.

During the time of their greatest achievements it seems unlikely that Lincoln had heard of Darwin or followed his work. After all, Darwin’s “Origin of Species” was published just days after Lincoln’s election as President and with Civil War brewing he likely was a tad busy. Darwin, however, had heard of Lincoln once the war started. He was what could be called an abolitionist and he carried on a long letter correspondence with botanist Asa Gray at Harvard regarding the progress of the war and slavery in general. Contosta only touches on this correspondence but the glimpse he gave makes me want to see more of these letters.

Rebel Giants Darwin and LincolnThe book spends some time after the early death of Lincoln and the much later death of Darwin to assess their impact on the world. Clearly the emancipation of the slaves and the subsequent problems with reconstruction led to issues experienced for another century (and continuing). And clearly Darwin’s theory of natural selection challenged the conventional thinking of the day. History has shown that many would “adapt” the work of these two influential men to serve their own purposes (e.g., “social Darwinism,” which Darwin would have been aghast to see).

Overall this 2008 book is an interesting read and a fascinating glimpse into the lives of these men. Based on my own knowledge I have some quibbles with what I see as the superficiality of the information about Lincoln, and perhaps the same is true for Darwin as I’m less familiar with the details of his personal life. But that won’t detract from reading for most people. I recommend the book, especially for anyone who would like better to understand the process leading up to Darwin’s greatest, and most controversial, contributions to modern knowledge.

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Happy Birthday, Harold Holzer, Abraham Lincoln Scholar

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haroldholzerHarold Holzer has a birthday.

The widely acknowledged preeminent Abraham Lincoln scholar, Harold Holzer, celebrates his own life on February 5th. Born in 1949 just seven days short of the 140th anniversary of Lincoln’s birth, Holzer has spent much of his life studying and writing about the man who freed the slaves and saved the Union.

So what is that he has done to warrant the title of preeminent scholar? You can start with the 43 books on Lincoln that Holzer has authored, co-authored, or edited. Add in the hundreds (or perhaps thousands) of lectures he has given over the years. And for good measure throw in his chairmanships of the Lincoln Bicentennial Foundation and the lead work he has done for other major Lincoln organizations and events. He has won too many Lincoln scholarship-related awards to count, but one notable recognition was the Lincoln Group of the District of Columbia‘s annual Award of Achievement in 2006.

In checking my list it seems I only own 11 of Holzer’s books, three of which are signed first editions. I’ve attended a lecture (or three), and witnessed his amazing recall – and understanding – of Lincoln’s words and intent. Perhaps he will write a foreword for my book when it comes out; he’s written dozens over the years in addition to his own volumes and articles.

Holzer is currently a Hertog Fellow at The New York Historical Society. As he enjoys the public reception to the Steven Spielberg film, Lincoln, on which he was a content consultant, it’s easy to imagine that Harold Holzer is having a very happy birthday. Lincoln fans are certainly happy that Harold Holzer has taught us so much about Abraham Lincoln.

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Lincoln to King to Obama: President Obama’s Second Inaugural Address Continues the Push Toward a More Perfect Union

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As President Obama was sworn in for his second term he channeled both Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King. In his inaugural address he sought to keep us on a path toward a more perfect Union, walking in the footsteps of these other two great men of history. This is Part Three of my series on inaugural speeches. It is best to first read Part One and Part Two to put this part into context. [I’ll wait again]

Inaugural emcee Senator Chuck Schumer primed us to think about Abraham Lincoln in his introduction of the President. Schumer noted that when Lincoln was first being sworn in the Capitol Dome was only half built. Lincoln insisted that construction continue through the brutal war to follow, and on the occasion of his second inaugural the dome stood gloriously the proceedings, a sign that “the Union shall go on.”LincolnInauguration1861aObama did not mention Lincoln by name during his inaugural address. He did not have to. At least some of Lincoln’s words and deeds are known to most and understood by all. In the most recognizable homage to Lincoln, Obama noted that the Founders of this country “gave to us a Republic, a government of, and by, and for the people, entrusting each generation to keep safe our founding creed.” Shades of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address in which he extolled that the nation would have a “new birth of freedom” and that “government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

Obama goes on to remind us that for more than two hundred years we have done so, though often with struggles against our own demons. Again channeling Lincoln, this time his own second inaugural and his “House Divided” speech, Obama noted that “through blood drawn by lash and blood drawn by sword, we learned that no union founded on the principles of liberty and equality could survive half-slave and half-free. We made ourselves anew, and vowed to move forward together.”

Perhaps fewer in the crowd were aware of another reference to our 16th President. Early in his state legislative career Lincoln was a big proponent of “internal improvements,” the building of railways, canals, roads and other large capital intensive projects. As President he signed into law the Pacific Railroad Act, which effectively created the first transcontinental railroad. During his inaugural address President Obama acknowledged Lincoln’s contributions when he said “Together, we determined that a modern economy requires railroads and highways to speed travel and commerce; schools and colleges to train our workers.”

The “schools and colleges” part is also a reference to Lincoln, who in 1862 signed into law the Morrill Land-Grant Act, which allowed the creation of land-grant colleges.

obama inauguration 2013

While Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation that began the process ending slavery and inequality for African-Americans, that process was slow and painful. One hundred years after the Civil War it took the strength of conviction of another man, Martin Luther King, to bring us closer to equality in basic civil rights. President Obama paid homage to King by being sworn in on his bible, along with Lincoln’s, on the day we honored the birthday of the civil rights leader. In a larger sense, the very presence of an African-American man “with a funny name” was taking not only his first, but his second, oath of office as President of the United States is testament to how important Lincoln and King are to our history. Obama captured the spirit of both men and the continuing struggles to achieve that “more perfect Union” as he bound together the common goals of equal rights for all men, all women, and all peoples:

We, the people, declare today that the most evident of truths – that all of us are created equal – is the star that guides us still; just as it guided our forebears through Seneca Falls, and Selma, and Stonewall; just as it guided all those men and women, sung and unsung, who left footprints along this great Mall, to hear a preacher say that we cannot walk alone; to hear a King proclaim that our individual freedom is inextricably bound to the freedom of every soul on Earth.

As both Lincoln and King asked us to withhold malice and work together, so too did Obama end with a call for us all to embrace our lasting birthright: “With common effort and common purpose, with passion and dedication, let us answer the call of history, and carry into an uncertain future that precious light of freedom.”

If you missed them, here are Part One and Part Two.

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Obama and Lincoln – Second Inauguration Addresses

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Abraham LincolnThis is Part Two of a series about inauguration speeches, in particular that of Abraham Lincoln, whose bible was used by President Barack Obama for both his first and second inaugurations. It is best to read Part One here first, then come back here. [I’ll wait].

Okay, welcome back. As I noted in the previous article, Lincoln’s first inaugural address was methodical and logical. And long. Lofty inspiration it wasn’t, but that changed in his concluding peroration in which he invoked the depth of the emotion of the moment, a pleading for all men to abandon the path to civil war:

I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.

Four years later Lincoln’s second inaugural address was the antithesis to his first – brief, introspective, war-weary. As we have seen in the movie Lincoln with Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln was hard at work trying to get the 13th Amendment to the Constitution passed, an act that would effectively codify the war-time Emancipation Proclamation. In his first address he was “devoted altogether to saving the Union without war.” But still the war came. Now, at his second inauguration, Lincoln lamented that while “both parties deprecated war,” one of them “would make war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would accept war rather than let it perish.”

The sadness in his words captured the painful knowledge that over 600,000 men died during the war nearing its end, though not yet over. Lincoln ruminated over the possibility that God was allowing the war to continue as penance for the offense of slavery. While he exclaimed that “fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away,” he worried that:

if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said “the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.”

Finally, with many in the North calling for punishment of the South during the coming reconstruction after the war, Lincoln ends with a call for constraint and compassion.

With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.

Unfortunately for the South and North alike, Lincoln’s life was taken and a period of turmoil enveloped the nation. A period that extended at least 100 years until the efforts of Martin Luther King raised again the issues of inequality to the national discourse. And here again, on this day in which President Obama took the oath of office for his second term as President on both the King bible and the Lincoln bible, the insights of Lincoln rise once again to the forefront of the discussion. In the next part of this series I will have more on President Obama’s second inauguration speech and his references to Lincoln.

If you missed it, please take a moment to read Part 1.

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President Obama, Martin Luther King, and Abraham Lincoln’s Inauguration Addresses

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Abraham LincolnBarack Obama, our first African-American President, took his oath of office in 2013 on the day we celebrated the birthday of the great civil rights leader, Martin Luther King. Obama was sworn in using both the King bible and the bible used by the man whose Emancipation Proclamation set the stage for freedom and equal rights for all, Abraham Lincoln. The symbolism of the confluence of these three men is palpable. Second inauguration addresses are commonly less inspiring than the first, though perhaps Lincoln offers a wonderful exception to that rule.

When Lincoln gave his first inaugural address we were on the brink of civil war. Several southern states had already seceded, and more were to follow. Lincoln faced the prospect of the Union ending before he even got into office and his first speech to the American people was an attempt to avert that occurrence. It was long. Very long. And like his very long Cooper Union speech of a year before, was eminently logical in structure and tone.

Lincoln first sought to soothe the South’s “apprehension” that the government was  coming for their slaves.  While he personally thought “if slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong,” he acknowledged that the Constitution protected both the states’ right “to order and control its own domestic institutions according to its own judgment exclusively” and that fugitive slaves shall “be delivered up” should they escape to the North [Article IV, Section 2]. Essentially, his hands were tied and the South’s fears that he would end slavery was unfounded. Lincoln said:

I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so.

Lincoln was making it clear that the Constitution prevented him from acting on slavery where it existed. That “the only substantial dispute” was the question of the spread of slavery.

One section of our country believes slavery is right and ought to be extended, while the other believes it is wrong and ought not to be extended.

He also argued that secession was illegal and unconstitutional, a view that was affirmed by subsequent Supreme Court decisions. So the onus was on the South for the war. And Lincoln made it clear that it was his duty as President to prevent a rebellion.

In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The Government will not assail you. You can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors. You have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the Government, while I shall have the most solemn one to “preserve, protect, and defend it.”

After such a long and analytical discourse, Lincoln brought his first inaugural address to a close by shifting to an eloquent call for compassion. I’ll continue with that and his second inaugural address in my next post.

This is Part 1 of a three part series. See Part 2 and Part 3.

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Frank Smith to Speak to the Lincoln Group of DC on the Emancipation Proclamation

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Frank Smith_smallDr. Frank Smith, Jr. will be the speaker at the Abraham Lincoln Group of the District of Columbia‘s monthly dinner event. In keeping with the 150th anniversary of Lincoln’s issue of the Emancipation Proclamation, Smith will discuss “The Emancipation Proclamation: Saving the Union and Paving the Way to Freedom and Democracy.”

Dr. Smith attended Morehouse College in the early 1960s before becoming an activist in the civil rights movement and playing a leadership role in organizing protests and marches for civil rights in Mississippi during “Freedom Summer” (1964). He later moved to Washington DC, where he was active in the community before being elected to the DC Board of Education and then the DC City Council where he served for 16 years.

One of his prize achievements was as Chairman of the Board and CEO of the organization that established the African American Civil War Memorial and Museum. The African-American Civil War Memorial – The Spirit of Freedom – stands at the intersection of 10th and U Street (corner of Vermont Avenue) in Washington, DC.

African American Civil War Memorial

In 2011 Dr. Smith was interviewed on the Black Eagle radio program by host Joe Madison. The video below shows Smith discussing the claim that African-American slaves chose to fight for the Confederacy during the Civil War.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YunYGr7VYnA&hl=en_US&version=3]

I’ll post more on Dr. Smith’s presentation after the event.

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