four score and seven years ago improvised

All sorts and every variety of apocryphal and morally impossible stories are on the market, and every shade and intensity of intimacy is claimed with him, by all sorts of individuals.ĭr. Much error, both of fact and opinion, is prevalent concerning Mr. Lincoln was an unique character, and had an unique experience so that all who knew him otherwise than, and differentįrom, the biographical conception of him, should submit their knowledge and views of him to the world, in order that when a proper biography shall be made up from the disjecta membra then in being, all may go into the historical hopper together, each and all to contribute to an accurate similitude and 'counterfeit presentment' of the man as he was. I have, however, classified my subjects, as will appear, in order that those who so desire can omit what might be devoid of interest, having myself experienced, in the consideration of the various 'Lives of Lincoln' I have seen, the difficulty of selection and avoidance which occurred in an unclassified consideration of the subject. I have had other similar, though somewhat less radical, experiences and, upon the advice of friends, the following sketches, written chiefly several years since, and now modified and amplified, are offered to the public with much trepidation, many misgivings, and no well defined ideas as to their reception. Lincoln coming under review, we disdained our comfortable berths, and 'The glow-worm showed the matin to be near,' before we took note that I had spent the entire night in rehearsing, to these distinguished gentlemen, various incidents which suggested themselves to my mind, pertaining to this greatest of men, within my own personal experience and this attention on their part was, of course, an homage to his memory, and not in any wise to me, and is indicative of the esteem in which his memory is held by men of breadth, culture and high attainments. John Baton, then Commissioner of Education, and now President of Marietta College and, the subject of Mr. While traveling eastward, some years since, I was honored with the company of Senator Fowler of Tennessee, and Hon. Photograph of Statue of Lincoln, at Rochester, N. The 'Lincoln' Log Cabin, at Farmington, Ill.Īutograph Letter of Abraham Lincoln, June 24, 1858 Site of the Home of Abraham Lincoln, at New SalemĪutograph Letter of Abraham Lincoln, Aug. Home of Abraham Lincoln's Father, at Elizabethtown, Ky.Īutograph Letter from Oliver Wendell Holmes, May 27, 1866 22, 1858Īutograph Letter of Abraham Lincoln, Nov. 25, 1858Īutograph Letter of Abraham Lincoln, Aug. 30, 1858Īutograph Letter of Abraham Lincoln, Dec. WashburneĪutograph Letter of Abraham Lincoln, Nov. The 'Grant' Family, Thirty-five Days Before the Hero's Death 1, 1863įac-simile of Map of Road Survey by Abraham Lincolnįac-simile of Certificate to Accompany the Same, by Same 30, 1861Īutograph Letter of Abraham Lincoln, July 9, 1856įac-simile Copy of Emancipation Proclamation, Preliminaryįac-simile Copy of Emancipation Proclamation, Jan. Somers, and Two Autograph Letters from Abraham LincolnĪutograph Note of Abraham Lincoln to McClellan, Sept. Well Where Lincoln First Saw Ann RutledgeĪutograph Speech at Gettysburgh Battle Ground (1st page)Īutograph Speech at Gettysburgh Battle Ground (2nd page)Īn Autographic 'Declaration' of Seven Pages 18, 1857Īutograph Letter of Abraham Lincoln (2nd page) Dec. 1855Īutograph Letter of Abraham Lincoln, June 7, 1855Īutograph Letter of Abraham Lincoln (1st page) Dec.

Photograph of Leonard Swett and AutographĪ Lawyer's Advertisement of Central Illinois, A. Photograph of Abraham Lincoln, by Alschuler Tremont House, Chicago, from 1850 to 1871

Four score and seven years ago improvised