Abraham Lincoln: The Nation’s Martyr. American Civil War 1861-1865. Courtesy of Picryl.
“A more glorious morning never dawned” than that of February 22, 1861, recounted a writer from the Daily Express as President-elect Abraham Lincoln passed through Lancaster City en route to Washington. The winter air was “sharp and bracing” with eager Lancasterians wrapped around Queen and Chestnut Street to welcome the 16th president. A man remembered for the eloquence of his oratory, Lincoln gave a brief speech on this chilled morning, its sentiments preserved in the spirits of Lancastrians as the “Brother’s War” pulsed through the country. Though this winter visit is often assumed to be the genesis of Lincoln’s connection to Lancaster, this corner of Central Pennsylvania coursed through Lincoln’s ancestral history; And was woven into the fabric of his political endeavors long before 1861.
John Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln’s great-grandfather was born in New Jersey in 1711. Moving to Coventry, Chester County in 1720, he settled down in Caernarvon Township, Lancaster County, PA following his marriage. He is the father of five sons born in Lancaster, his third son, Abraham Lincoln, the president’s grandfather, was born in 1739. In the latter half of the 1760s, John Lincoln moved to Shenandoah Valley, Virginia where his son Abraham accompanied him. In 1784, Abraham followed Daniel Boone into Kentucky, where he was shot and killed by Indigenous Americans. Abraham’s son, Thomas, is the father of President Lincoln. These familial ties surpassed the colonial era though, as William A. Wallace, originally from Lancaster, wed Mary Todd Lincoln’s sister, Frances. Wallace was a leading physician in Illinois, and Lincoln named his third son after him.
Lincoln’s 1846 election into Congress further acquainted him with the people of Lancaster, firstly introducing him to Pennsylvania Congressman and Lancaster resident, Thaddeus Stevens, who Lincoln appraised as being “sagacious” and “experienced,” a courtesy that Stevens did not return to Lincoln. As a representative of the 7th Congressional District of Illinois, furthermore, Lincoln lived in a boarding house with Lancaster’s Congressman, John Strohm who stated that Lincoln was every man’s favorite due to his “Good nature, apt stories, and conciliatory disposition,” making him the man people relied on to “smooth over many disputes.” Strohm was not the only Lancastrian to commend the gentle charisma of Lincoln. Former Lancaster County school teacher, Jesse Fell, a Quaker, anti-slavery Republican who had moved to Illinois, believed that if Lincoln’s humble upbringing and conviction towards slavery’s moral hypocrisy could be recognized, he would be a formidable, if not triumphant, candidate for the presidency. Standing by his intuition, Strohm invited Lincoln to his brother’s Bloomington law office in 1858 for an interview, telling him, “You have no embarrassing record; you have sprung from the humble walks of life, sharing its toils and trials, and if we can only get these facts sufficiently before the people, depend on it there is some chance for you.” He continued, asking Lincoln “To prepare material for a well-considered, carefully written newspaper article.” About a year later, Lincoln sent Fell a brief autobiography, which appeared in nearly every Pennsylvania newspaper. Lincoln’s illustration of his life and philosophies appealed to many citizens, highlighting an all-too-familiar, and rather inspirational, narrative of the American Dream as he described the wilderness of Kentucky he came of age in, his humble beginnings in Illinois, and his self-taught path to legislating. He even gave a brief physical description of himself, noting that he is, “Six feet four inches, lean in flesh, weighing on an average, one hundred and eighty pounds, dark complexion, with coarse black hair, and grey eyes.” The same year, Abraham Lincoln was nominated for the Presidency, providing many historians reason to credit Jesse Fell for Lincoln’s success in nomination.
As briefly mentioned before, Mr. Lincoln made an address in Lancaster, at the Caldwell House, in February of 1861. Providing an account of Lincoln’s arrival, a correspondent for Lancaster New Era wrote that the “boom of the first gun of the National salute reminds us that cordial reception on the part of the citizens of this great county awaits the coming man.” The diary of one Lancaster citizen, Alexander H. Hood, reads that Lincoln “made quite a good impression wherever he was seen.” Furthermore, Dr. Thomas Ellmaker of East King Street recalled that upon Lincoln’s arrival, “Bands were playing, drums beating and the people cheering and waving their hats and handkerchiefs.” Majority of the crowd, comprised of men, fervently awaited the president. However, a fight was reported in Center Square, started by a Lincoln opposer. On the top of the Caldwell House, Lincoln spoke to the crowd: “I might make a long speech, as there is plenty of matter in the conditions that exist, but I think the more a man speaks in these days the less he is understood. As Solomon says, ‘there is a time for all things,’ and I think the present is a time for silence.” After his brief speech, Lincoln accepted a bouquet before returning to his train car. The next time Lincoln would be in Lancaster was as his corpse passed through the City en route to Illinois.
Amid the Civil War, it was not uncommon for Lincoln to receive appeals from mothers on behalf of their beloved sons. Speaking to General Campbell, Mr. Lincoln on one occasion said, “I am as happy as if our armies had won a victory against the rebels. Mr. Stevens brought one of his constituents to me yesterday— an elderly lady, whose only son, nineteen years of age, was sentenced to be shot tomorrow at noon for sleeping at his post… I cannot consent that a farmer lad brought up to keep early hours in going to bed should be shot to death for being found asleep, when he ought to have been awake… The mother, all tears, has just left me, and as she went out my heart and came up in my throat when between her tears she went up to old Thaddeus Stevens and said between her sobs ‘You told me, Mr. Lincoln was ugly. How could you say so, Mr. Stevens?” Thaddeus Stevens publicly criticized Lincoln for not being adequately assertive in the prosecution of the war, Lincoln is known to have handled Steven’s rather blatant distaste with grace and elegance. In response to the elderly woman’s comment, Lincoln said: “Now, Thad, what would you do in this case, if you happened to be President?” Stevens replied that as he knew of the extenuating circumstances, he would certainly pardon the boy. “Well, then,” said Lincoln, “Here, Madam, is your son’s pardon.”
Lancaster citizens were also present in Lincoln’s final hours. Lafayette Fridy of Lancaster was taken to Ford’s Theatre in April of 1865 by his parents to see the play “Our American Cousin” where Confederate sympathizer, John Wilks Booth, assassinated Lincoln. Weeks later, on April 25, 1865, the train bearing the body of the president passed through a draped-in-black Lancaster en route to Illinois, where 20,000 mourners waited for the arrival of Lincoln’s casket. At the train depot, a sign read “Abraham Lincoln, the illustrious Martyr of Liberty; the nation mourns his loss; though dead, he still lives.” Also in attendance were former President James Buchanan and Congressman Thaddeus Stevens. An eyewitness stated of Stevens, “He seemed absorbed in silent meditation, unconscious that he was observed. When the car approached, Stevens reverently uncovered his head and replaced his hat as the train moved away.”
Lincoln is venerably remembered in American history as the face of emancipation; the leader of a cause that brought brother against brother in the hands of battle. Known as “Honest Abe” from Illinois, it is of exhilarating interest to the people of Lancaster that this man of honor has seen the heart of the city and too has it within himself. Let these underpinnings of Lincoln’s life not be buried within the tides of history, but remembered as an example that the places we exist in are fiercely bound to figures of the past.
Junior Anna Chiaradonna is the Editor-In-Chief of The College Reporter. Her email is achiarad@fandm.edu