Tag: Fire of Genius

On August 17, 1861, Abraham Lincoln witnessed an exhibition of what Lincoln dubbed the “coffee mill gun.” Lincoln was always pushing for modernized weaponry beyond the standard muskets, which were inaccurate and slow to reload. He pushed Ordinance Chief James Ripley to put into service various breechloaders, rifles, carbines, and repeaters.

Another type of advanced weapon that Lincoln promoted was the multi-shot guns we might refer to as “machine guns.” Technically called the “Union Repeating Gun” by its salesman J.D. Mills, Lincoln dubbed one the “coffee-mill” gun due to its resemblance to that faithful brewer of morning sustenance. A single barrel was fed by bullets dropped into a hopper, then fired using a hand crank mounted on the rear. In August of 1861, Lincoln wrote Ripley: “If ten of the repeating guns, of the pattern exhibited to me this morning, by Mr. Mills, near the Washington Monument in this City, shall be well made, and furnished to the government of the U.S. within, or about thirty days from this date, I advise that the government pay for them double the sum which good mechanics of that class shall say the material, and labor of making and delivering here are worth.” Getting further concurrence of General McClellan on the potential usefulness in battle, in December Lincoln told Ripley to “let the fifty guns be ordered.”

Lincoln never stopped looking for better versions of weapons he had pushed. In the middle of 1862 Lincoln showed he understood the mechanics of repeating weapons in a letter to Stanton: “I have examined and seen tried the “Raphael Repeater” and consider it a decided improvement upon what was called the ‘Coffee Mill Gun’ in…that it is better arranged to prevent the escape of gas.” Later in the war, another repeating weapon was introduced by Dr. Richard Gatling. He claimed that “it is regarded, by all who have seen it operate, as the most effective implement of warfare invented during the war, and it is just the thing needed to aid in crushing the present rebellion” (underlining in original). To ensure no confusion with what he saw an inferior product, “I assure you my invention is no ‘coffee mill gun.’” Rather than a single barrel, the Gatling had six barrels capable of firing up to 350 rounds a minute. Repeating weapons of varying types were employed occasionally during the war, for example at Middleburg in 1862, but typically these pieces were limited to guarding locations such as bridges, being too unwieldy for infantry movements.

But Lincoln’s push for new technology went far beyond individual guns. More on that soon.

[Adapted from my forthcoming book, due out in early 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.

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

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

So what is the status of this book?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Stay Tuned!

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

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

On April 6, 1858, in Bloomington, Illinois, Abraham Lincoln gave his first science lecture on what has become known as “Discoveries and Inventions.” Or maybe he wrote two lectures by that name; the issue is a bit murky.

The Daily Pantagraph reported that “Mr. Lincoln is an able and original thinker, and in the department of literature fully sustains the reputation he has so justly earned at the bar.” Others, including Lincoln’s law partner William Herndon, were not so charitable, calling the lecture a “dull, lifeless thing.”

In any case, analyzing the Lecture on Discoveries and Inventions is complicated by the fact that only what appear to be partial transcripts of the lecture remain. John Nicolay in a Century Magazine article called “Lincoln’s Literary Experiments,” and later in the Nicolay and Hay Life of Lincoln, reports only the second half of the lecture. Basler’s Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln has both parts of the lecture, but lists them in two separate volumes as if they were two separate lectures. The confusion comes from the two handwritten parts of the lecture left with the only surviving daughter of Mary Lincoln’s uncle, who passed them to Dr. Samuel Melvin after Lincoln’s assassination, who, believing they were separate lectures, kept one part and sold the other part to Charles Gunther, who later sold it to renowned Lincoln collector Oliver Barrett. In the 1990s, historian Wayne Temple demonstrated clearly that the two parts were indeed from the same lecture. A prominent Bloomington, Illinois newspaper, the site of his most well-attended version of the lecture, carried a significant accounting that includes reference to both sections of the lecture, as well as two subjects—laughter and music—that are not in either section. The lecture most likely included another written piece in the middle, now lost, or Lincoln improvised as he spoke. The two pieces also include some overlap and seeming repetition, for example mentioning Adam’s fig-leaf and steam power in both, which suggests that both pieces are early drafts that Lincoln revised and consolidated into a final lecture.

More recently, Mary and Robert Lincoln historian Jason Emerson discovered letters between Robert and John Nicolay revealing that the two pieces, perhaps additional missing segments, and maybe some revisions, were contained in “a mss [manuscript] book, thin, in black cover, evidently got for the purpose of copying the Lecture into it, as was done in my father in his own hand.” Robert concluded that book was “evidently the one used in delivery.” Unfortunately, Robert lost the book and it has never been found.

Whatever the final length, Lincoln gave the lecture on as many as six different occasions in central Illinois between April 1858 and April 1860. The first was in Bloomington on April 6, 1858. Ten months later, he repeated the lecture in Jacksonville and again in Springfield on February 21, 1859. After giving it in Decatur in January 1860, his planned repeat in Bloomington in April was cancelled as it was about to begin due to poor turnout. His return engagement in Springfield two months after rising to national prominence with his Cooper Union speech, however, was given before a “large and intelligent audience.” Many more requests for Lincoln to present the lecture were made by prominent community leaders across the state, but Lincoln limited himself to places and times that coincided with legal and political business so as not to inconvenience himself.

[Adapted from my forthcoming book]

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

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