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CHICAGO HISTORY The Magazine of the Chicago Historical Society
EDITOR
Spring 1996
R OSEMARY K. A DAMS
Vo lum e XXV, Numb er 1
ASSISTANT EDITOR
L ESLEY A. M ART IN EDITORIAL ASSISTANT
P ATTY M . MI CHALSKI DESIGNER
BI LL VAN
CONTENTS
IMWEGEN
PHOTOGRAPHY
4
_JO HN ALDE RSON
M E RRI LL P ETE R SON
J AY CRAWFORD
Copy righ t 1996 by the Chicago I listorica l Societ y Clark Street al North Avenue Ch icago, IL 6061~-6099 ISS
America Remembers Lincoln
26
Abraham Lincoln and the Chicago Hi storical Societ y R USSELL L EWIS
0272-8540
Articles appearing in this journa l arc abstracted and indexed in F-li sloricalAbstracts and Am,rira: I foto,y mu/ Lifr. Footnoted manuscripts of the articles appearing in this issue are available from the Chicago l listorical Society's Publicauom Office. Cover: Abraham Lincoln , CHS, JCHJ- 11-144. Inside Co,cr: Letter to Abraham Linco ln from the Chicago Histor ical Society Setretar\', William Barrv. Courtesy of Library of Congress.
DEPARTME 3
TS
From the Editor
60 Yesterda y's City
Chicago Hi storical Society OFF ICE RS Sh aro n G ist G illia m , Treasnrer Phili p W . Hum me r , Chair Rich a rd M. J affee, ViceChair R. Ed en Ma rtin , Secrelmy Ch ar les T. Bru m bac k, ViceChair Philip D . Bloc k III , Immediate Past Chair Dou glas Gr ee nb er g, President and Director
Lero n e Ben ne llJ r. P hili p D. Block III Laurence Boo th Ch arl es T. Bru m bac k Robert N. Bun Miche lle L. Co llins Mr s. Gary C. Co m er J o hn W . Cr og h an Mrs. Owe n Deut sch Stewart S. Dixo n Mich ael H . Ebner
T R STEES Sh aro n G i t G illia m M . Hill H a mm oc k Arn y R. H ec ke r Philip \i\'. Humm er Rich a rd M . J a ffee Ed ga r D. J ann o u a Barb ara Levy Kipp e r W . Pa ul Kr au s Fre d A. Kre hbi e l J osep h H. Le\'y .Jr. Mr . J o hn J. Lo ui s Jr. R. Ed en Ma rtin
Way n e A. McCoy Robe rt Mee rs Mr s. ewto n . Min ow Ka thr yn Mit ch e ll Po tt e r Pa lm e r Mar ga rit a Per ez Arthur F . Qu e rn Go rd o n I. Sega l Ed wa rd Byro n Smith Jr. Mr s. T h o m as J. Ta usch e J am es R . T h o mp so n
LI FE T R STEES Bowe n Bla ir Phili p E. Ke lley Mr s. Fr a nk D. Mayer J ohn McC ut ch eo n An dr ew McNa lly IlI Br yan S. Re id Jr. Gard ner H . Ste rn Demp sey J. Tra vis HO OR.ARY T RU T EES Rich ard M . Da ley, Mayor, Cit)'of Chicago J ohn\\' . Roge r s Jr ., President, Chicago Park Distritl T he Chicago H isto rical Society i5 a pr ivately en dowed , ind epe nde nt im titu tion devo ted Lo coll ¡ct ing, inte rpr etin g, and prese nti ng the rich multi cultura l history of Chicago and lllinois, as well as selected areas of American history, to th e public th roug h ex h ibitions, prog rams, resea rch collect ions, and publications. It mu st loo k to its members and friends for conti nui ng financia l upp or t. Co ntribu tiom LO th e H istor ical Society are taxded uct ible, and appropriate recognition is accorded major gifo. T he Chicago Hi s101-icalSociety gratefu lIr acknowledges the Ch icago Park Di trict '~ genernu, sup port of all of the Hi storical Society' acti\'ities. Member ship Benefits include free ad mission to the H istor ical Society , in\'itat ions
LO
spec ial c, ents, Chicago
HislOI) magazine, Pm/ Times, and di,counts on all special programs and J\lmeu m Store purcha~e,. Family/Dua l
50; Student/Senior Fam ily -15; Ind i\'idua l 40; Student/Se nior Ind i\'idua l 35. Hours The Museum is open da ily from 9:30 .\ ..\I. to 4:30 P.\ I. ; Su nday from 12:00 ,oo, to 5:00 J>.\I. T he Library and th e Arc hives an d Manu script s Co llect ion are open T uesday th ro ugh Saturd ay from 9:30 A .M . to 4:30 P. ~1. All ot her researc h collect io ns are ope n by a pp ointm ent. Th e CHS is closed on Th ank sgivin g, Chri stm as, and New Year's days. Education and Public Programs Guid ed tour s, slid e lectur es, ga llery talks, craft demonstrations, and a variety of spec ial p rogra ms for all ages, fro m pr eschoo l th ro ugh senior citizen, are offered . Suggested Admission Fees for Nonmembers Adult s, 3; Stud ent s ( 17-22 with valid schoo l ID) and Senior Citizens, 2; Childr en (6- 17), I . Admi sion is free on Mond ays. Chicago Historical Society
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From the Editor
Abraham Lincoln died more than 130 years ago, yet his hold on America's imagination has endured. Throughout the years our image of the sixteenth president has shifted to fit the national mood. The media recently had a field day when various historians claimed that the young Lincoln shared not only a home with another man, but a bed as well; that Lincoln and Mary Todd had to get married because the latter was pregnant; and that Mary Todd Lincoln verbally and physically abused her husband. As a pop icon, Lincoln is not yet in the same league as Elvis, but he seems to be gaining ground. In January 1995, thirty-seven Honest Abes attended the first national convention of Lincoln impersonators in Lexington, Kentucky. Why have Americans remained so fascinated by the first Republican president? Perhaps no other figure in American history personifies this country's cherished belief that a person of humble origins can rise to greatness. In the pantheon of American heroes, Lincoln ranks alongside George Washington. But Lincoln has always been more approachable than the rather remote father of the country. Born and bred in the West, Lincoln was instead a true child of America. His rise from farmer to shopkeeper to lawyer to congressman to president demonstrated that America was truly the land of the self-made individual. During the Civil War, the nation 's most tumultuous era, many Americans deified the president. He loomed larger than life as Savior of the Union and the Great Emancipator and died a martyr at the hands of a Confederate sympathizer. The ideal that anyone can rise to greatness remains embedded in the nation's consciousness. Immigrants have journeyed here for centurie to pursue that uniquely American dream. Americans today may be too cynical to revere Lincoln for his supposedly saintly qualities, but national optimism ensures that he will remain the quintessential Great American. Thi issue of Chicago History is devoted to Abraham Lincoln and coincides with the opening of the exhibition The Last Best HojJe of Earth: Abraham Lincoln and the Promise of America on February 12, 1996, at the Chicago Historical Society. This exhibition reflects a previous collaboration among the Illinois State Historical Library, the Huntington Library, and the Louise and Barry Taper Collection ba ed upon an original concept of Louise Taper. It premiered at the Huntington Library on October 12, 1993. In the first article, Merrill Peterson discusses the 1909 commemoration of the centennial of Lincoln' birth. The Chicago Historical Society has had a long relationship with Abraham Lincoln, beginning in 1861 when the members elected the president an honorary member . Russell Lewis's photoessay explores this history through Lincoln-related artifacts from the CHS collection a well as photographs of the many Lincoln exhibitions mounted by the Hi torical Society through the years. Finally, Raymond Brod tells the story of the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debate through the eyes of the spectators. Nearly all of the images illustrating this issue come from the collection of the Chicago Historical Society.
RKA
Abraham Lincoln with his son Tad, Febntal)' 9, 1864. Photographby Anthony Be,ger. 4
America Remembers Lincoln In every era,America celebratesits own image of Lincoln. The centennial of Lincoln's birth in 1909 inspiedan outpouring of reverenceand affection for the sixteenthpresident. Merrill Peterson
Editor'sNote: Why is Abraham Lincoln ingrained in our national conscience?How did he becomeknown as the quintessential "GreatAmerican"? In hisfascinating book Lincoln in American Memory, Merrill D. Peter on explores these questions, tracing the evolution of the Lincoln myth since his assassination in 1865. In the introduction, Peterson explains: "The martyrwas in tantaneouslydeifiedbothbecause of the dramatic. . . eventssuffozmding his death and because of public esteem for him as a man and statesman. ... The immediateaftermath of his death was hardly the time to form a ju st estimate of Lincoln's place in history; nevertheless, editors, politicians, jJoets,portraitists, and preachers essayed that task. " Peterson focuses on the five most common imagesof Lincoln:the Savior of the Union, the Great Emancipat01~ the Man of the People, the FirstAmerican, and the Self-madeMan. Americans have reinterpreted these images during the 130 years since Lincoln's death, adapting them to reflectthe national mood. Petenon notes that these images, "while not all-inclusive, . .. are the guiding themes in the nation's memoryofAbraha111 Lincoln, and, although changeable,theya,-eremarkablyresilient." The following excerpt discussesthe celebrations and commemorationsin February 1909 in honor of the one-lwndredthanniversaryof Lincoln's birth.
conveyed through reminiscence, biography, and politics. Savior of the Un ion remained the favorite theme of the Grand Army of the Republic, the Un ion League, the Loyal Legion, and similar groups for whom the memory of Lincoln was entwined with memories of the war. Some hoped to conso lid ate the still alienated affec tions of many southerners to the national ideal , thus to finish at last the unfinished business of the war. Others were eager to forge the link between nationality and democracy in Lincoln's name. He had seen the Nation behind the Constitution: the vibrant democratic principle rather than the ancient lega l compact. This added to the importance of the image of Man of the People . No conception had proven more protean. It encompassed the folk hero, the humani-
The commemoration of the one hundredth anniversary of Lincoln 's birth was one of those event that took up more space in the actual obse,¡vance than it would in the historical record. A\ American again asse eel Lincoln's place in history, they were guided by the themes of the apotheosi and by the image From Lincoln in Ameri can l\lenH>1-yby Alt>rri/1D. Petn,011. Copyright 1994 by Merrill D. Peterson. Repri11tl'dbyJ1n1111 .,sw11 of (J\fiml L'n1wn1ly Pre.1.1, Inc.
On the one-lwndredth anniversary of Lincoln's birth, the Chicago Tribune jJUblished this cartoon by John McCutcheon 011itsfim1/ page. 5
ChicagoHistoiy, SjJring 1996 •
TIME
\\AKE S 11 BRIGHTER.
The president's image shone brighter with the passagl' of time, as depictedin this Daily 1ews cm1oon,jmblished011 Februmy 6, 1909.
tarian, and the dernoo-atic leader. For reformers bent upon halting the march of predatory wealth and returning power to the people, no event of recent years, as one of them aid, "was so pregnant with inspiration as the nation-wide anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln." For Neo-roes and their friends Lincoln 0 remained, above all, the Great Emancipator. They hoped to broadcast the message of racial justice and equality. But the commemoration, like everything else in American life, was Jim Crow, and to Negro leaders who had long worshiped at Lincoln's shrine it seemed that "the white have out.heralded Herod" on his anni\'ersary. To an extent, of course, the AACP could be con idered a by-product of the occasion. TI1e image of Lincoln as the First American, voiced by the poet Lowell, had prodigious connotations but was especially associated with western character and influence. ature had taken "sweet clay from the breast of the unexhausted West" to mould this new hero. In 1909 Edwin Markham, already famous for verses on Lincoln, contributed to the commemoration a poem evocative of the West.
So hidden in the West, God shapedHis man, There in the unspoiledsolitudehe grew. UnwarjJedby culture and uncrampedby creed; 6
Keeping his coursecourageousand alone, As goes the MississipjJito the sea. Lincoln the Self-made Man continued to instruct the young, in particular, and secured it own memorial at the great man's Kentucky birthplace . o issue had been more marked in the definition of Lincoln's character than that between the folk hero and the godlike statesman, and this tended to correlate, though not absolutely, with the division between the man of humor and the man of sorrow, the man of affection and the man of intellect, the Lincoln of romance and the Lincoln of work-a-day realities. It was, said an observer, as if two mental tickets were i ued for Lincoln, one giving access to the almost superhuman savior of the nion and the sad-eyed emancipator, the other to the droll humorist and the "great heart" who ub umed reason to sentiment. "Some of our counu-yrnen pin their faith to one ticket, some to the other, and some-such is the delightful inconsi tency of the human mind-accept both. They use one in the Sunday school and the other in the smoking car." The best minds of the afterwar generation-the generation that staged the Centennial-felt waning interest in the Lincoln of romance and rernini cence and, with Robin on fixed their thoughts on the Olympian tatesman. The \'iewpoint as well expressed in an anniversa1-y editorial in the Dial: "The figure which was in the process of reconstruction from the time of Lowell' ¡ ode and Whitman's threnody to the time of the statue of aint-Gaudens and which is still more definitely shaped in the centennial year, i far more the expre sion of our ideal than it is of our memory, and it speaks well for the national character in the twentieth century that thi ideal is so pure and wholesome and altogether worthy of our devotion." As Herbert roly wrote, there was "a kind of human excellence" in Lincoln which turned to moral and intellectual account eve1-y experience life offered, and which was more than nationalism or democracy or brotherhood or Americanism; and it was this that made him the supreme symbol of a worthy ideal. The first call for "The Lincoln Centenary" was published by the New York Times in 1905,
America RemembersLincoln
..
THE SHIEL[)
OF PEACE.
CHl~l, HEO LE1;ACY FAO-,, LINCOL~.
This Daily News cartoon Ji'om February 11, 1909, deJ1icted America's most cherished legacyfrom the president.
four year in advance of the event. Because Lincoln wa "the most representative, and most widely recognized ational figure in our history," the anniversary offered an incomparable opportunity to appeal to the South, both white and black, and to strengthen national unity. It ought to provide as well for a great national monument in Washington. The further recommendation for a federal commission met with no response in Congress. As a result, the Centennial became an activity mainly of local governments, patriotic organizations, and the media. Thing got underway in Illinois in 1907 when the legi lature adopted a re elution calling upon the Governor to appoint a fifteenmember ' tate Centennial Commis ion. The year 190 marked the fiftieth anniversary of the Lincoln-Douglas Debates .. AH seven of the citie where the debates had occurred celebrated the event. The State Historical Library publi heel a new edition of the debate . Their modem fame elate from this time. Actually, it begun in 1896 when Knox College, al
Galesburg, unveiled a bronze tablet to memorialize the event. Robert Lincoln was present, and Chauncy Depew, who remembered the impact of the debates in the East, delivered the oration. Contrasting the contestants, he aid, "Lincoln had humor and pathos, and Douglas possessed neither. . .. Unlike Douglas, Lincoln was weak unless he knew he was right. His whole nature must be stirred with the justice of his cause for him to rise above the commonplace." eedless to say, the celebration was of Lincoln rather than Douglas. Horace White, whose reports of the debates in the ChicagoTribune were said to have started "a new era in the history of journalism," spoke at the fiftieth anniversary commemoration in AJton, which, although a small place, turned out an audience of thirty thousand. It was another sign, White thought, of Lincoln's soaring fame as the Centennial approached. The simultaneou movement to memorialize Lincoln 's birthplace was of unusual interest to the nation. In 1894 Alfred W. Dennett, a New York restaurateur, purchased the place called Sinking Spring Farm about three miles from Hodgenville. The 110 rolling acres were useless for farming, but Dennett thought to improve the landscape and turn the site into a memorial park. He also acquired from a neighbor, John A. Davenport, the beamed log cabin that, according to oral tradition, had stood on the site when Lincoln was born, but had been removed in 1861. The Davenport cabin was reassembled on the original homestead-a photograph appeared in McClure's in 1895but within three years it was again dismantled. The logs were marked and shipped to Nashville for exhibition, beginning a strange odyssey that would end back in Hodgenville nine years later. The authenticity of the cabin, and of its site as well, was disputed from the start. Locally, there were incompatible recollections about the history of the birthplace cabin; and the existence of other cabins, such as the one on tl1e Knob Creek farm where the family went to live when the boy was two, simply added to the confu ion. Public interest in log cabins associated with Lincoln seemed insatiable. Mention was earlier made of the Railsplitter's cabin from 1830. In 1891 the Abraham Lincoln Log Cabin Association pur7
Chicago Hi lory, Spring 1996
chased the dwelling at Goose est Prairie, in Cole County, which Lincoln had supposedly built for his father, dismantled it , and remounted it for exhibition in Chicago. For better or worse, the cabin at Pigeon Creek, in Indiana , disappeared without a trace. Dennett , having fallen into financial difficulties, failed to pa y his tax es, and the sheriff of Larue County advertised th e old Lin coln farm for auction in I 905. Meanwhile, a young newspaperman, Richard Llo yd Jon es, had taken a deep inter es t in the propert y. One day, chatting in Louisville with "Mars e Henry" Watterson on a favorite subject, Lincoln , the editor asked , "Have you ever been down to his birthplac e?" When Jones confessed that he had not, Watterson continued, "Well, go; you will find the spring broken down, the pigs and horses trampling upon sacred ground. You sit down on the bare knoll above the spring where the Lincoln cabin stood, the markers are still ther e. You sit there and there is something there that will move you." Jone s went, was moved , a nd came away with the id ea of making something of this "sacred ground.''
The Re,1erendj enkin Lloydj ones,fo under of Chicago's Abraham Lin coln Centre, advocated the /Heservation of Lincoln's bilthplace,a log cabin in Hodgenville, Kentucky (right), as a shrine lo the president's111e11101y. 8
America RemembersLincoln
9
ChicagoHistory, Spring 1996 Sometime later, in Chicago, he related his experience to his father, Jenkin Lloyd Jones, a well-known Unitarian minister and reformer and founder of the Abraham Lincoln Center in the city. He at once resolved on a pilgrimage to Hodgenville . Upon his return he wrote an editorial, "The Neglected Shrine," in his paper Unity, which brought the matter to the attention of a wider public for the first time. The younger Jones, when he learned that the property would be auctioned, interested Robert J. Collier, editor of Collier'sWeekly,in bidding for it. Jones later regaled his friends with the story of how he spent the evening before the sale in nearby Elizabethtown getting two competitors hopelessly drunk. One of them represented a Louisville distillery which hoped to make and market "Lincoln 's Birthda y \Vhiskey" from the spring. The next morning Jones was the only serious bidder. He bought the farm in Collier's name for $3,600. Immediately, the editor announced his intention of eventually conveying the place to the government as a Lincoln memorial.
First , Collier and associates formed the Lincoln Farm Association to raise money for development. Under the presidency of Joseph W. Folk, a former governor of Missouri, it enlisted the support of famous men like Mark Twain and Cardinal Gibbons and built a membership of some seventy thousand people upon contributions of twenty-five cents to twenty-five dollars. Collier'sWeeklypromoted the cause, chiefly through the publication of Lincoln birthday numbers beginning in 1906. Mrs. Russell Sage gave $25,000, the only large gift received by the association. The design competition for the proposed memorial was won by a young John Russell Pope, whose classic inspiration prefigured a distinguished career in American monumental architecture. How did one design a memorial to house and preserve a crude, century-old log cabin and to honor the great man born in it? Polk 's design , pure and serene and utterly unrelated to the historical Lincoln, called for encasing the birthplace cabin within a Greek temple. The oak logs from the cabin, meanwhile , were located on Long Island. To
The Lincoln cabin in GooseNest Prairie, Illinois, which Lincoln buill with hi.sfather.
10
America RemembersLincoln The cornerstone of the memorial hall was laid on the one hundredth anniversary of Lincoln's birth. President Roosevelt spoke movingly before a huge rain-drenched audience, although nothing he said on this occasion cut closer to the heart of the matter than what he had written in Collier's the year before: " o more blessed thing could have happened to a great democratic republic like ours than to have had this man of the plain people, the railsplitter, the country lawyer, develop into its hero and savior; for every feature of his career can be studied as a lesson by each of us, whatever his station, as we lead our several lives. " The memorial would stand for all this, for it was here , on this quiet knoll in Kentucky, that that life began. The association made the decision not to place a statue before or within the temple housing the sacred relic lest it detract from it. The statue, a noble bronze by Adolph
transport these sacred relics to Kentucky, the Pennsylvania Railroad furnished a special car, decorated by John Wanamaker , the Philadelphia department store baron-and a Linco ln enthusiast-which made well-advertised stops en route to allow children and adults to touch the logs. In 1908 Congress gave a boost to the association's campaign with the appropriation of $50,000 toward the building of the memorial. The accompanying report lauded the objectives of preserving the birthplace cabin. "We believe American youths have too long turned longing eyes toward the holy places of Europe ... while we have neglected to inspire them with the holy places at home. " The memorial in Kentucky, the premier border state, the report continued, "will become the nation 's commons, the patriotic mecca of orth and South, East and West, the national symbol of peace and unity."
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ChicagoHist01y,Spring 1996
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America Remembers Lincoln
Weinman, was erected by the Commonwealth of Kentucky in Hodgenville and dedicated on Memorial Day of the centennial year . One November day in 1911, President Taft dedicated still another statue in Kentucky's new state capitol at Frankfort, and on the next day dedicated the birthplace memorial for the nation. It would serve as a constant reminder, he said, "of the unexplained and unexplainable growth and development, from the humblest and homeliest soil, of Lincoln 's genius, intellect, heart, and character that have commanded the gratitude of his countrymen." The United States government assumed custody from the Lincoln Farm Association in 1916. Authentication of the logs of the templed cabin has remained a problem for the National Park Service, as it was earlier for the association. Today when as many as three hundred thousand of Lincoln 's grateful posterity come to this somewhat isolated monument in Kentucky, ascend the fifty-six wide steps (each denoting a year of Lincoln's life), and pass through the columned entrance to gaze upon the cabin , slightly reduced from its original size of sixteen by eighteen feet, they are told it is thought to be reconstructed from some of the original logs. But the question scarcely matters to most visitors, since the cabin conveys the truth of Lincoln's beginnings, while the temple of gleaming pink granite endows it with the beauty of classic form. Unique in several ways, it is perhaps most original in being the only monumental tribute of a nation to the birthplace of a great man. President Wilson, dedicating the memorial for the United States in 1916, called it an eloquent shrine to democracy. "Nature pays no tribute to aristocracy, subscribes to no creed or castle, renders fealty to no monarch or master of any name or kind .... Here is proof of it!" And so for some visitors the memorial became a civics lesson. "Every youngster in this country should be taken to the place of Lincoln 's birth ," said the Ohioan Jame M. Cox. "The combined lessons of all the classrooms in America do not give such an appreciation of the fact that in our counll)' a humble beginning i not an impossibl e barrier to success." For oth ers it invited ridicule , so incongruou was the architecture with the man it memorialized . Ida Tarb ell con-
fessed she first approached it with dread , yet found happily that in its extraordinary dignity and simplicity the memorial beautifully, serenely, stood for Lincoln. The Centennial memorialized Lincoln in many ways . President Roosevelt approved of placing Lincoln's head on one of the nation's co ins, and he turned up on the penny-the commonest of all coins. It was the first United States coin to honor a president. An aspiring poet named Carl Sandburg, writing in the Milwauk ee Daily News, hailed its arrival: "The common, homely face of Honest Abe looks good on the penny, the coin of the common folk from whom he came and to whom he belongs ." So great was the demand for the Lincoln penny in 1909 that vendors sold it at a premium and enterprising tradesmen inserted it in metal casings advertising themselves. Eighty years later some 250 billion Lincoln pennies had been minted. Congress directed the Postmaster General to issue a commemora tive stamp in the two-cent denomination that carried most first-class mail. Lincoln's head had previously appeared on special stamps - the first in 1866-but, of course, never on the first class denomination, and some congressmen surmised that once ensconced he would evict Washington from that favored position. The carmine-colored stamp featured the profile bust (actually a reduced photograph of a plaster study) from Saint-Gaudens's famous statue. Robert Hewitt, a collector, was respon sible for the minting of a commemorative medal, which offered a striking frontal bust in high relief sculpted by Jules E. Roine. The events of the commemoration converged on FebruaJ)' 12, which was Friday, and in some states and cities a legal holiday. In major cities, like New York and Chicago, commissions were appointed to orchestrate the activities. Daily newspapers were the leading promoters of the commemoration. In Chicago the programs of schools, civic groups, patriotic organization , and professional bodies spread over the entire week. It was ushered in by a blockbuster edition of the Chicago Tribune on Sunday, February 7. Proclaimed 'The Greatest Issue of the Worlcl"s Greatest Newspaper," it ran to 194 pages and weighed three and one quarter pounds. A year in planning , over five 13
Chicago Hi story, Spring 1996
The February7, 1909, edition of the Chicago Tribune, the "Createt issue of the World'sGreatestNewspaj1er,"celebrated Lincoln's life and legacy. 14
America Remembers Lincoln
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The Lincoln Centennial Association held a banquet to commemorate the president's birthday.
weeks in printing on thirteen presses using five tons of ink, the sheets of the edition laid end to end would stretch eleven thousand miles, or all the way to Singapore. Nothing like it had ever appeared before. It marked, as the Tribune boasted, an epoch in newspaper publication. "Lincoln 's Spirit Dominates City" ran the frontpage headline, while the two column editorial extol1ed the sixteenth President as both nationalist and democrat. The stories that filled the pages were, for the most part, lift ed from extant writ in gs about Lincoln. The center of the "picture section" featured a two-page spread of miniaturized portraits of Lincolnten across in twelve rows-which Osborn Oldroyd had assembled. (They resembled the endpapers of this volume.) Succeeding issues provided full coverage of the celebration of this city of two million people . In Saturday's climax, Woodrow Wilson poke on "Abraham Lincoln: A Man of the People " at the Auditorium, and twenty thousand people later packed the Dexter Pavilion at the Union tockyards to hear an illu trated {stereopticon) lecture by the Re\'erend Jenkin Lloyd Jone and a choir of fiv hundred voices. The city' egro community had its own great event at the eventh Reg-
iment Armory. Only here was attention paid to Lincoln the Emancipator. In Springfield the Jim Crow auspices of the commemorat ion threatened to become embarrassing. The capita l city's program included an exh ibit , with lectures, at the State Historical Society, services at the tomb, a reception at the homestead under the sponsorship of the Daughters of the American Revo lution, an address by William Jennings Bryan at the Tabernacle, and a gala by-invitation-only banquet at the State Arsenal, where the British and French ambassadors headed the list of honored guests. Sponsored by the Lincoln Centennial Association, a private corporation created by the state comm ission , the banquet admitted the twenty-five-dollar subscr ibers to membership in the association. One of the invitat ions went to Edward W. Morris, a egro lawyer in Chicago, becau e he was a member-the on ly egro member-of the state leg islature. Morris promptly subscribed, which was the cause of consternation, althoug h he had no intention of showing up at the lily-white affair. The ed itor of the Colored Am erican Magazine expressed amusement that the whites had suddenly grown so fond of Lincoln as to bar blacks from 15
ChicagoHistory, Spring 1996 their meetings. At the Union League Club banquet in Brooklyn, colored waiters who wished to hear the speakers were sent to the kitchen, with the result, it was said, that dinner was served "very sullenly." The Lincoln Centennial Commis ion in ew York City reported that one million people participated in programs in 562 choo ls and 624 meetings and related activitie . The New York Times, which took the lead among newspapers in promoting the Centennial, sponsored an essay contest for schoolchildren. A series of seven biographical articles by Frederick T. Hill, subsequently gathered in a book, Lincoln's Legacy of Inspiration, provided the orientation.
The aim, said the Time , was "to give Lincoln's message to those who feel they have not had a fair start in life, " and who thus might find his career "an antidote to hopelessness and discontenl. " How that message could be delivered to slum children was a problem that we ighed on the minds of many people. The Boston Globe conducted a forum on the question "Has the Poor City Boy the Chance that Linco ln Had?" Three of four urbanologists said yes, provided, of course, the legacy of inspiration survived. Judged by the response of ten thousand New York schoolchildren to Hill 's earnest articles, America was still a country where the poorest and humblest might strive to greatness by adherence to the traditional virtues. The Times drew the conclusion: "It i neither Lincoln the President, nor Linco ln the Master of Men, nor Lincoln the Savior of the State who is winning the hearts of more and more Americans evc1y year. All that history could te ll of the Pre ident was told many years ago. It is Lincoln the Man who i :n piring his follower¡ todaythe man within touch of all the lowly at hearl. This is he who of all Americans is ' leaving his imprint upon eternity."' So, once again, it came down to character. As in Chicago, ew York's commemoration extended through the week . The Lenox Library mounted a Lincoln exhibit. The New York Philharmonic Orchestra performed FritL Stahlberg's "Abraham Lincoln: In Memoriam; " the piece was turbulent and mournful and, despite the presence on the stage of the Saint-Gaudens icon, about a suggesti\'e of Lincoln a it was of Savonarola, in a critic's opinion. In the international reverberations of the Centennial-in London, Manche ter, Paris, Berlin , l\1anila, and in Latin America-one tribute stood out from all the rest. Leo Tolstoy, perhaps the most famou man in the world in 1909, interYiewed at hi estate, Yasnaya Polyana, called Lincoln "a Christ in miniature , a saint of humanity." Of all the great nationa l heroes and statesman of history, he was the only true giant. Tolstoy had been amazed by the reach of Lincoln's fame. Once, traveling to A plaster re/1/icaof Augustus Saint-Gaudens'sstatue was diJjJlayedat a New York Philharmonic Orchestrajmformance of "AbrahamLinco/11:hz J\lemoriam."
,,
America RemembersLincoln the Caucu es, he met a Muslim chief who said of the Amer ican: "He was a hero. He spoke with a voice of thunder; he laughed like the sunrise and his deeds were as strong as the rock and as sweet as the fragrance of rose." The chief begged to learn more of Lincoln, and Tolstoy told him all he knew. Having himself become a saint, he naturally thought Lincoln was one. "Washington was a typical American"-a switch on the usual comparison" apoleon was a typical Frenchman, but Lincoln was a humanitarian as broad as the world. He was bigger than his country-bigger than a ll of the Presidents together. Why? Because he loved his enemies as himself." Love was the foundation of his life, said the Russian, and he prayed that the Centennial would light the Aame of righteousness among nations. This emphasis on Lincoln's love had its other side in the love of the people for him. "One cannot read Abraham Lincoln without loving him," President-elect Taft declared in a notable tribute. In him there was more "inspiration for heroism" than in any other man in history. The Times, in its centennial editorial, said that if one name were to be given to the Martyr President a century after his birth it would be "Lincoln the Beloved. " This love for him was founded on his love of humanity. The Centennial produced a bumper crop of books, essays, and poems on Lincoln. The only truly important historical comribution was the Diary of Gideon Welles, serialized in the Atlantic
Monthly prior to publication. A centenary edition of Lincoln's writings appeared in nine volumes; Rice's Reminiscences,already a classic, was republished; and both Tarbell and Rothschild prepared second editions of their books. The most popular biography of the year was authored by the Progressive mayor of Cleveland, Brand Whitlock. In a compact two hundred pages, he added the elegiac tone of Vachel Lindsay to Herndon's characterization. With other progressives, he emphasized Lincoln 's philosophy of labor. The Civil War, in the Pre ident's eyes, was part of a world struggle for the rights of man over the rights of property. He was "essentia lly an idealist," said
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The Ancestry of Abraham Lincoln exploredthe president'sfamily tree. Two ancestors were hanged/or treason;anothn was burned al the takefor heresy.
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America RemembersLincoln Whitlock, and his dream eluded him. Among volumes of special interest were J. Henry Lea's The Ancestryof Lincoln, which gave him a distinguished lineage , and Clara E. Laughlin's The Death of Lincoln, which reflected the public 's continuing fascination with the assassination. No sooner had the first wave of reminiscences passed into folklore than a new wave followed. The Memoirs of Gustave Koerner made a significant addition to the literature. A political friend, Koerner had helped mobilize the Illinois Germans behind Lincoln and the Republicans. Heart-warming reminiscences filled the columns of newspapers. Those of William H. Crook, Lincoln 's bodyguard , ran in the Washington Post; a four-page feature in the Boston Globecontained the recollections of one hundred living ew Englanders who had seen Lincoln. Thus he remained an intimate presence in spite of the hero worship. The centennial year also saw the publication of a memoir that would attain the status of a cult classic, The Valleyof the Shadows, by Francis Grierson. A prairie-born musical prodigy, Grierson achieved fame as a pianist in Europe. Later, after Laking up the voguish spiritualism of the time, he launched a literary career with Modem Mysticismin 1899. Valleyof the Shadows,written in London , was an attempt to recapture through a mystic veil the author's frontier boyhood. Elements of th e supernaturaluperstitions , premonitions and visions, the sense of being in control of a higher power-had always figured in the Lincoln image. Grierson asserted that they were the key to understanding him. Agreeing with Carlyle that "all authority is mystical in origin," he viewed Lincoln as a prophet floated into power on waves of destiny. ot understanding this , politicians and lawyers and historians had not understood Lincoln. Grierson mentioned the unparalleled radiance of the comet Donati in the year 1858 and interpreted thi as a heavenly benediction on Lincoln and the Republicans . As a boy he had he ard the last of the great debates in Alton. His description of Lincoln as he "stood like ome solitary pine on a lonel y ummit " and with wondrous power held the people breathles "u nd er the natural magi c of the rnoM original per onality known to the English- peaking world since Robert Burns" is almost worth the price of admission to the book.
Memoirs of Gustave Koerner 1809-1896 Life-sketches written at the suggestion of his children Edited by Thoma, J. McCormack
VolumeI
Above: GustaveKoerner, who had ralliedIllinois Germans behind Lincoln, published his rnernoirsin 1909. Below: The Valley of Shadows becarnea cult classic.
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ChicagoHistory, Spring 1996 The Centennial spawned a quantity of verse. Percy MacKaye's Centenary Ode, recited at the Brooklyn Academy or Music, suffered the fate common to occasional poetry. It is contrived and ponderous. Yet it has its moments, as in
Aesopand old Isaiah held in him Strange sessions,winkeelat byA rte111us Ward. And this incisive acknowledgement of Lincoln's complexity:
The loving and the wise May seek-but seek in vain-to analyze The individual man, for having caught The mysticclue of thought Sudden theymeet the controvertingwhim, And fumbling with the enchanted key, Lose it then utterly. Finally, this transformation of the Great Emancipator into a prophetic world figure:
He landsforth 'Mongstnations old--a new worldAbraham, The patriarch of peoplesstill to be, Blending all visions of the promisedland In oneApocalypse. William Ellery Leonard , a distingui hed professor at the University or Wisconsin , read hi centennial poem at the dedication of a replica of the Weinman statue on the Madison campu . He speaks of Lincoln 's "iron faith" and its mighty legacy to the nation. More important than that, however, is the man who lives in the hearts of the people.
How often it seemswe like to linger best Around the little things he did or said, The quaint and kindly shift, the homespunjest, Dear random memoriesof a father dead; His image is in the cottageand the hall, A tatteredprint perhaps, a bronze relief, One calm and holy influence over all, A householdgod that guards an old Belief A household god is an intimate god, one about whom loving sentiment gather. A Canadianborn writer, Edward William Thomp on, was the author of several narrative poems about Lincoln which, as they were grounded in casual memories of him, belong as well to the literature of reminiscence. "Father Abraham Lincoln," published in Collier's,begins:
20
My private shrine. The GettysburgAddress Framed in with all authenticphotographs Of himfrom whom the New Religionflows. The poet remembers how as a boy of fourteen munching a cheese-cake on Chestnut Street in Philadelphia he aw the President walk by.
A sudden twinkle lit his downcasteyes, Marking the cheese-cakeand the staring boy; Tickled to note the checkedgastronomy, Passing, he asked, "Good,sonny?" in a tone A/Jplau ive more than questioning,Jull offun, Yet half-embracive,as your mother's voice, And smiledso comrade-likethe wonderinglad Glowedwith a senseof being chosen chum To FatherAbraham Lincoln, President. The boy became a soldier near the war' end and saw the President again at City Point, mounted , reviewing the troops, "a trave ty or every point or horsemanship, " and in black frock coat and antic stovepipe hat looking like "so me old-time circuit preacher."
Too mnch byfin-Jor soldiergravity-A breezeof laughter traveling as he passed, Rose sudden lo a gale that stormedhis ear. The Presidentlumed and gazed and understood All in one moment,slightly shookhis head, Not warningly, but with cheerfnlglee, And sym/Jathyand love, as if he spoke: "You scalawags,you scmn/Js,but have yourfnn!" Pushed up stove/Jipehat, and all around Be lowedhis warming, right paternal smile, As if his soul embracedus all at once. Then strangelyfell all laughter. Some men choked, And somegrew inartirnlatewith lean; A thousand ,wteran childrenthrilledas one, And not a man of all the throng knew why; Some calledhis name, some bles ed his ho(vheart, And then, inspiredwith pentecostaltongues, We cheeredso wildlyfor Old FatherAbe 77wt all the beardedgeneralsflamed in joy.' The poem concludes with the reflections on the miracle of Father Abraham and apprehensions for the republic 's future as the moneymongers fouled the promise of his victory. Lindsay was not alone among poets in praying for the return of Lincoln's spirit to brighten the democratic promise.
America RemembersLincoln The most popular poem of the season was Edwin Markham 's "Lincoln, the Man of the People." Indeed, it was on it way to becoming the best-known verse ever written on the subject. Markham had rocketed to fame in 1899 with "The Man with the Hoe ." Brought to eastern celebrity from his native Northwest, he was asked to read a poem on Lincoln at the annual dinner of the New York Republican Club in 1900. After some difficulty , he summoned the Muse , and the result , while it did not meet with the instantaneous acclaim of the earlier poem , attained comparable fame in the centennial year. Taking his cue from Lowell, Markham envisions Nature's moulding Lincoln from the common clay.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN CENTENNIAL 1809 FEBRUARY
1909 FOR.
She took the tired clay of the common roadClay warm yet with the genial heart of Earth, Dashed th rough it all a strain of jJrojJ/z ecy, Then mixeda umghter with the seriousstuff Markham uses a number of natural metaphors -"patience of the rocks," "g ladness of the wind," "justice of the rain that loves all leaves"-to evoke "the Captain with the mighty heart" who held up the ridgepole when the earthquake shook the house.
He held his placeHeld the long /Jwpose like a growing treeHeld on through blameand faltered not at praise. And when hefell in whirlwind, he went clown As when a kingly cedargreen with boughs Goesdown with a great shout upon the hills, And leaves a lonesomeplace against the sky. No natural metaphor was more favored by poet than that of a tree-solitary and windbeaten, typically "a gaunt, scraggly pine." The hopes of many that the Centennial would be crowned with a great monument to Lincoln in the nation 's capital were unfulfilled. The movement in that direction was inesistible, however. Continuing dissatisfaction with the monument in Springfield had prompted efforts Lo revive the defunct aLional Lincoln Monument As ociation. In 1886 Senator Cullum, of Illinois , introduced legislation lor an appropriation of 100,000 for each of the ten years to erect a filling national memorial. Cullum's idea was a columnar monument east of the Capitol, on the axis with the \\'a hington Monument ,
12
BovsANDGIRLS LILIAN
;-I
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children'sbookpublishedfor the centennial.
and it assumed the erection of a similar monument to Ulysses S. Grant on a cardinal point north of the Capitol. othing came of this initiative. In 1901 the McMillan Park Commission, appointed by Congress, recommended the extension of the Mall one mile west to the Potomac and the erection of a Lincoln memorial at that point. (Another key to the McMillan Plan was the tunneling of railroad track under the Mall.) For seven years the plan lay dormant. Part of the problem was congressional indecision between competing plans for a memorial to Lincoln, one calling for a utilitarian monument in the form of a "Lincoln Way" connecting Washington and Gettysburg, another for a monument at or near the new Union Station north of the Capitol, and, of course, the Potomac Park monument. The upshot was the establishment of a Fine Arts Commission, which would offer expert advice on site and design. These questions were still unsettled two years later when Congress enacted Cullum's bill , a quarter-century after his original one, for a Lincoln Memorial Commission. Although the Centennial aimed to be a festival of patriotism, it was reluctantly observed, 21
ChicagoHistory, Spring 1996
1809
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at best, in the former Confederate states. In Texas and Arkansas, though , Lincoln's birthday was observed for the first time; in Memphis and Little Rock commissions were appointed to plan commemorati\'e e\'ents; in Birmingham schoolchildren were introduced to Lincoln; and in North Carolina the legi lacure adjourned for the anniver ary. Ripple of praise ran across the South. The most impressive ceremony occurred in Atlanta. Cnion and Confederate veterans joined in services at the Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church, South. The commander of the United Confederate Veterans offered prayers , and a retired general of the United States Army, who had been with Lincoln at Gettysburg, read the immortal address. The Reverend James W. Lee , a son of the Confederacy, and the church's pastor,
22
delivered an address in which he attributed th e Union triumph to divine favor and thanked God that the soldiers both in blue and gray were now united on earth as in heaven and together regarded "the martyred president their commander-in-chief Lo all eternity." Such an event tands out becau e of its rarity, however. Across the South, Lincoln 's one hundredth anniversary was better remembered among egroes than in the dominant white community. The outhern historian J. G. de Roulhac Hamilton, assessing "Lincoln and tl1e South" in the centennial year, said that the "peculiar posessive affection" that had deified him in the North was to be found nowhere in the South, nor was it likely to arise, yet southerners inneasingly recognized hi greatness of heart and acknowledged he had never been their enemy. Hamilton distinguished three phase in the evolution of the southern attitude: first, Lincoln as "Black Republican "; second, from the moment or his a sassination through Reconstruction and beyond, the Lincoln whose loss was the South's deepest reg ret , but for whom it still had no liking ; third , the Lincoln of the ew South generation, admired for his southern birth and blood, for his democracy, even for his nationalism, since it no longer threatened the South and its tradition . This third Lincoln found its sinister expres ·ion in Thomas Dixon ' · novels and its benevolent expression in \'\'a tterson 's writings and addre es. The Kentucky editor delivered another paean to the Dori c hero or the nion in his oration dedicating the tatue in Hodgenville. "All of us are now Unionists," he declared. The South as well as the orth could participate in the exaltation of the log-cabin boy who became Presidem and who was the divinely appointed avior of the Union. Lincoln found place as a southerner in the biographical volume of the encyclopedic The South in the Building of the Nation, which appeared in 1909. A non- laveholding emigrant, he retained a sympathetic under tanding of the country and its people, it wa said, and despite emancipation never supposed the two races could be melded in common citizen hip. Among the memorable southern tributes to Lincoln was Georgia-born Maurice Thompson's
America Remember Lincoln
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23
ChicagoHistory, Spring 1996 Phi Beta Harvard one who Lincoln's
Kappa poem, "Lincoln's Grave," at in 1894. He begged the privilege of fought for the Confederacy to sing at gnve and hail his godlike humanity.
He was the North, the South, the East and West, The thrall, the master,all of us in one. He set freedom free, making real what had been a dream , and now his words are whispered by oppressed peoples everywhere.
His was the tirelessstrength of native truth, The might of rngged, untaught earthiness; Deep1r¡eezingpovertymade brave his yonth, And toned his manhood with its winter stress Up lo the timbreof heroicworth, And wrought him lo a c,ystal clearand jJUre, To mark how Nature in her highestmood Scams at our pride of birth, And even plants the life that must endure In the strong soil of wintry solitude. Some southerners, like the Populist and raci t Tom Watson , were still trapped in the second of the three phases Hamilton described , while still others had yet to emerge from the shadow of the Black Republican image. Lyon G. Tyler, son of John Tyler and president of the College of William and Mary, was one of the e. Re ponding to a Baltimore Sun feature that asked the que tion "What Do the Southern People Think of Lincoln Today?" Tyler replied that they were too polite to speak unkindly of him on his one hundredth anniver ary . "But," he continued, "it i due to frankness to declare that, in spite of what a few enthusiastic Southerner may say, the mass of Southern people can never be brought to see Lincoln in any other light than that of a representative of a section of the country ." The South could not concur in the orth's regard for him as a statesman or its estimate of Lincoln's moral character. Similar opinions were expressed by George L. Christian in an address before the R. E. Lee Camp of Confederate Veterans, at Richmond, and in the ConfederateVeteranmagazine. In the pages of the latter, Lincoln continued to be portrayed as a vulgar buffoon , a hypocrite in religion, and a purveyor of smutty jokes. He was guilty of crooked and duplicitous conduct in the provisioning of Fort Sumter; he was a 24
wartime dictator; his Emancipation Proclamation vio lated his pledge not to interfere with slavery, and with it he sought to incite servile insurrection. Far from being a kind and generous ruler , he "Shermanized" the South. "\Vhat, then, has been the basis of all the fictitious greatness?" another Lincoln-hater asked. "We answer: Assassination. Assassination placed the crown of the martyr upon his brow, Henceforth, 'all things unclean become divine."' Such writing drew upon deep veins of bitterness and hatred. It assumed its most respectable form in Charles L. C. Minor's The Real Lincoln, published at Richmond in 1901, and in three revised editions over the next twenty-eight years. With chapter titles like "Was Lincoln Heroic?" and "Wa Lincoln a Christian?" Minor educed an array of testimony, from Lamon, Herndon and Weik , Donn Piatt , and others, leading to a foregone conclusion. The book was deemed ufTiciently dangerous to be removed from several public libraries in Massachusetts. A more poisonous rehash oft.he same materials was the pseudonymous Facts and FalsehoodsConcerning the War in the South, published at Memphis in 1904. Here the apotheosis was seen as a staged affair managed by the Radical Republicans to consolidate their power . And ad Lo say, many in the South had fallen under the spell of this deified Lincoln. The South had its own heros. The year 1907 marked the centennia l of General Robert E. Lee. Thenceforth his birthday, J anuat) ' 19, was observed from Virginia to Texas. Whenever the orth should join that observance, challenged one unreconstructed rebel, it would be time enough for the South to honor Lincoln. A surprising advocate of the de oulhernization of Lee stepped forward. He was Charles Francis Adams, a bred-in-the-bone Yankee of honorable lineage who had captained a Union cavalry regiment during the war and now presided over the Ma achu ett Historical Society. In 1902 he addressed the question "Shall Cromwell Have a Statue?" and offered the example of the ma ive bronze erected Lo the great Puritan leader in front of Westminster after the passage of two centuries in a plea for a national momunent to Lee. Lee had been great in war and great in peace. Although technicaJ!y a traitor, he was entirely justified, Adams
America RemembersLincoln thought, in choos ing to go with Virginia in 1861. If he was a traitor, so were Cromwe ll and Washington, and so, Adams hoped, would he have been if Massachusetts had been the seceding state. In closing, h e extended his imagination to the distant future: "Th e bronze effigy of Robert E. Lee, mounted on his charger and with the insignia of Confederate rank, will from its pedestal in the nation 's capital gaze across the Potomac at his old home in Arlington, even as that of Cromwell dominates the yard of Westminster upon which his sku ll once looked down." The perversity of the Adamses was legendary, and one scarcely knew whet h er to take this proposal ser iously or whimsically. Speaking on Lincoln at Baltimore in 1909, Woodrow Wilson remarked that not long before he had addressed a southern audience on Lee, and curious ly, he observed, "there seemed to be no conceivable incompatibility between the two tasks now, in this generation ." Perhaps , for General Lee was redeemed by his virtues, above all by his course of conduct from Appomattox to his death; but history was badly misread and the deserts of fame miscast by the suggestion that he belonged with Lincoln in the American pantheon. Better by far, certainly, that it would be Lincoln, from his memorial, who gazed aero s the Potomac to Arlington. ILLUSTRATIONS 1, CHS, lCHi-11238; 5, from Chicago Tribune, (Feb.
12, 1909); 6, from Daily New:,,(Feb. 6, 1909); 7, from DailyNews, (Feb. 11, 1909); 8, courtesy of Special Collections, University of Chicago; 8-9, CHS, ICHi25916; JO, CHS, ICHi-11487; 11, CHS, ICHi-25915; 12 top , CHS, ICHi-25917; 12 bottom, CHS, ICHi11483; 1-1,from ChicagoTribune, (Feb. 7,1909); 15 left and right, CHS library ; 16, CH , JCHi-259 l 4; l 7 top, from The Di(l/yof Gideon Wells( 191 I), CHS Library; 17 bottom left, from Ritualfor the Cenltnnial Celebrationof Pre:,.AbrahamLincoln ( l 909), CH Library; 17 bottom right, from U/Jrahmnlincoln's Werdegangund uwjbahn ( 1909), CHS Library; 18, from 77zeA11cest1y of Abrahmn Linroln ( 1909), CHS Library; 19 top, from Mmzoirs of GllltaveKoemer ( 1909), CH Librnry; 19 bottom, from Tiu I 'alleyof Shadows ( 1909). CJ-JS¡ Library; 21, from 1lbralw11tU11roh1Centennial ( I 909), CllS Librnry ; 22, from Se1111ce ,1in Conw1e11wratio11 of /he One Jfundr edlh . limi 11enr11)' of the Birth of 1lbrahm11Lincoln (Feb. I 1, 1909), CI IS Library; 23 top , ClIS, IC! II-25912; 23 bottom, Cll , ICifi-259 I'.};25, fi¡orn Lincoln's Grave (189-1), CIIS Libra11 .
As lhe Civil War began recedinginto 1nem01) ', some Southerners ex/Jressed admiration for Lincoln. Maurice Thompson, who had fought for the Confederacy,/Jraised the Leaderof hisformer enemy in Lincoln's Grave.
nj anua1} 18, 1861. William Bany, secretary and librarian of the five-year-old Chicago Historical Societ)', wrote lo Abraham Lincoln. informing him that "at a statute meeting of Lhis Society, held the 15th instant, you 11·ere elected one of its ll onora1ymembers.·' Barry"s invitation initiated an enduring relationship between the presidentelect and the Chicago Historical Society that continues today. Indeed. no other historical figure has played such a dominant role in the life of the I listorical Society as the subject of so 111u ch im·estig;ation and interpretation and so man)' displaysand exhibitions. The Historical Society beg,m collecting material related to its esteemed honora1;· member <luring Lincoln's lifetime. In 1864. at the request of J\1a1} Livermore and founding Historical Society member Isaac N. Arnold, Lincoln
agreed to donate the original draft of the Emancipation Proclalllation to the Northwestern Sanita1y Fair in Chicago with the understanding that the buyer would then give it lo the Chicago I listorical Society. Th e procla!llation. one of Lincoln's walking stick5. and Leonard \folk's marble bust of Lincoln were on display in the I listorical Society's building at Dearborn and Ontario Streets when fire destroyed the structure on October 9, 1871. Eager 10 rebuild the collection and to amass additional material documenting Lincoln's li!e. secreta1y Alben D. ll aeger suggested to Robert T odd Lincoln in 1882 that he place his parenL5'papers in the custod)· of the 11istorical Society. Although he expressed interest in the idea. Rohen Todd Lincoln demurred. questioning '•if there was anything of suflicienl consequence to include in such a collection.·· Th e collection eventual I) went to the Lihra1y of Congress. Th e Historical Society's Lincolniana collection continued to grow throughout the nineteenth and t1re111i eth centuries.
In honor of the cente11 a1y of Lincoln's birth in Fehrua1y 1909, it mounted an exhibition or Lincoln materials. Although it was on view for only [WO weeks, it attracted thousands of 1·isitors and inspired libmrian Caroline Mcllvaine to suggest that the porlraiL5,personal possessio11 s. a11dn1a1H1 scripts he on per111 a11 e11tdisplay in a11Abraham Li11 col11roo1n. Tlie I listorical Society's acquisition of Charles F. Cunther·s collectio11of ma1H1 script~ a11dhistorical olijecls from his estate in 192.'3brought priceless and unique Lincoln materials lo the I listorical Society. including his death bed and the table upon which he wrote the Emancipation Proclamation, his piano. his carriage, ,md his fa1nou~ dispatch to Ceneral Crant, ·'Let the thillg he pressed.'. Caroline Mdh-dine·s dream of a permanent display of Lincoln material finall)· lllaterialized in 1932 with the opening of the I lislorical Socicty's present building in Lincoln Park. In additio11to Lincoln [!all {11 011the Lihran Reading Room). which
11raham Lincoln an he
displared numerous busts, portraits, and 0Li1 er Lincoln material, the third floor featured recreations of the parlor from the Lincoln family's Springfield home and the Petersen boarding house room ll'here Lincoln died. Th e I listorical Society's interpretation of Lincoln and his time, however, was not f1dly realized until :\1ovember 1941, when twenty dioramas depicting e,·ents in Lincoln's life were opened on the first floor for public viell'ing. In 1973, the dioramas, the parlor, and the Petersen hoarding house roomwere reinstalled along with other ol~jects in the new Lincoln Gallery on the second floor. Th e g,1lle1y closed in 1986 in preparation forthe creation of the exhibition A I louse Di1icled: America 111 t!teAgeojLincol11,which opened in 1990and features a number of items from the Lincoln collection. The Historical Society has also augmented its long-term displays of Lincoln and his time with important te111p ora1y exhibitions. Especially notalJle was the Gettysburg Addres. exhibition. which opened No,·emher 19. 1950, exacdy four score and se,·e11years after Lincoln delivered one of the most remarkable speeches in American histo1y. The exhibition, \vhich displayed all existing copies of the speech 11Titl en in Lincoln's 0\111 hand. was on view for tweh-e days and allracted thousands of1isitors. In 1965. the IlistoricaJ Society featured the exhibition flte Death of Lincoln. Few historical museums or societies in .\merica have had the inti1
Lincoln's /Jersonal ejferts, such as this gold monogrammed /1(:)' wald1and chain (o/J/1 osile), wludt lite Springfield State journ al jJresented lo him in 1861, are lug;lt0•sought 11ws e11111s a11d/Hivale collectors.Because of lite scarcil)·and value of s11d1ile111 s, great efforts are made to anlhentimle all da i111s. The silverJ,-aml'eyeglassesalleged£1belonged lo Lincoln, but i11dis/mlablejJroofis nol amilable. '17t e silh and beaver lo/J lwl (above) l (l{[ S owned ~\' Dr. Samuel Long of SjHingfield, Illinois, who loaned it to Abra/ta111 Li11col11lo wear during his inauguration ceremonies in 1861.
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mate and long- tanding relation. hip with Ahraham Lincoln that the Chicago Historical Society has had, and no other can count him as an ho11 ora1y member. Th e Historical Society·s Lincoln material is 1·oluminous. and 111 ost of it is carefull)· prese1Y ecl and stored from public 1ie,1·. Th e loll0\1i ng pages re1·eal selected artifacts from the l listorical Society's Lincoln
material and show how it has interpreted Lincoln and his world over the years. Russell Lewis is the HistoricalSocic(J". i assistant directorfor researchand rnra/orial a_ffairs.
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Pagesji-0111 'flwmas Lincoln ·sJa111il_y Biblr chroniclingthe births, marriages,and dmths ofJa111i6 ' 111 embffs. Following the death ofhisfallter i111851, Abmlw111 Lincoln recorded 11ifal dales i11hisJa111ifr's hislOI) ', includinghis ow11birth on Febmmy 12, 1809, and his 11 1aniage lo Mmy Toddon .Aove111ber 4, 1842.
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Leji:Pagefrom AbrahamLincoln's "Booko/E.rnm/J/esi11Arillu11elic," }82..J-26 . Bom i11loa poorfronliff Ja111i6 ' nt'ar J-/odge11 ville, IIardiu Co1111t)', Ke11t11chy, Abralw111 Lincol11 a11 d hisji1111i6 111oved to afarm ufa/"Gmt1yvillf, in what was then SjJC11cer (110w PenJ) Cowzf)', !udia11a , wltm he was seve11.He li1wl//u're until 1830, when lite Jamill'relocatrdto aJann I/far Dernlur,MaconCo111tl) ', Illinois. Li11coln dai111ed i11later)'earsthat hisfomwl f'd11 calio1tdid not exceed 011 e)'ear.Desj)ilethis handicajJ , he w1wgedthrough /Jersonalreading 11 toeducatehi111s elf a11dLodl'1. 1elop a re11wrhable co11111w11d of tlteEnglish language.111182..J , Lincoln atlendedthe schoolof AzelDors)'in S/}{'11cer C'o1111lJ ', localedsomefo11,. milesji'Olnhis home,for aboutsix 111011/hs. T110 )'earslate,~Lincoln ro111/Jlelecl this page,which describes i11wordsa11dexa111ple Liteconce/J l o/rhirn111il. Onf'of lwo/Jages from Li11coln 's aritlt111elic bookowned bvtheHisloriml Sociel)', a total twen(1 •11nbo1111d pagesare k11ow11 lo exisl i11/Jrimlea11d /mblircol/eel ions. 1
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Right:Althoughhe is re11eredas the sr111iorofthe na/1011 a11dcelebmted for his 1110ml llisio11 of A111erica , Linro/11 is lessa/1/Jreciated for his /1olitimlsc1111 :r and skills. Indeed, 1 heIIW)' 1ny 11 •ell betheshffwdesl poliliciaII everlo ocrn/1_,1 · the l 171ite Housr'. l11his St'/1lc111ber 13, 1856. le/In lo CharlesJI. Ra)', Lincoln 1ealshis /m2cha11I re1for jJolitical 111t111eu1 •rri11[!,. Although111' do 110! k11ow wl11d1 Gcr111a11 /xtj}('rs co11ccmcd Li11rnl11. ht' rlear(l'jdt tlu:1'1Nu' criliml lo smtri11/!, !hf' all-i111/JOrfrwl G1mw111 0/tfor R1/i11hlica11 /m .1idmlial crwdidalc 1m.1 /1illrd John C Fdmo11t.11'110 aw1i11s[ Dmwcml Jr1111t B11dl(ll/(II/ 1
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and tlu·. \ ctli1,isl Aml'l'ican/Jm°(r m11didatcMillard Fill111ore , a11d for Illinoisg11bcmalorial auulidalt ~l'illia111 I I. Bissell.17ll'o11gho11l the s1111111u ·r a11dtlufall. Li11rol11 was a /H,j)//larRe/)//blica11 Par{1's/Jeake1; 11/w ddil'trcd co11z,i11ci11g arg11111mls
againstslaveryand slwrpeued!tis jm 1-1111io11 stanrethat wouldguide him i11his senate and presidential racesoverthe nextJourJrn/'S.
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Below: 111Febrnmy 1861, Mr11 y '/odd lill col11jmrdwsed this Elegant H. Cloth CoachJ,-0111 the Brewsfrr Carriage Com/1a10 â&#x20AC;˘in Xl'W York City f or the su111of$ I,400. F{'{ltII ring silv<' 1j1laled 11 101111li11 g:5 , o brow11silk cordul lini11 g, a dark browll bol6', and blad!whff ls with stn/1esofc/a,-/ 1brown and cmw,y,
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theBrewsteranr iagewasoneof threetheLi11col11s ownedand used i11Washi11gto11 D.C.Al Mrs. Li11col11 's request,thepresidmt's 011ogram was/1ai11 ted on each 111 door.Afterthe assassi11at 1011, Ma,y ToddLincoln11Sed the carriagei11 Chicagountil herdmth in 1882.
Cand)'11tanufacl111a , colleclor,and 1/istmicalSociel)'trusteeCharles F. Guntherboughtthe carriage a11dhad it restoredin 1920.After his death,theHistoricalSociefJ · Jm,dwsedhis historical collectio11, i11cluding the Lincolnca,..,-iagt . ft wasplacedonpublicview 111 the ChicagoHistoricalSociefJ •'s buildingal Dea,-bomand Ontario Streets(above) from 1920lo 1932, andfar 11wny)'ea1-sthereafterin theHistoricalSociefJ•'s Lincoln Park b11ildi11g.
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Left: Al the req11 esl of Mm)' Li11en11 01e and the urging of HistoricalSocielJ'f onnding member Isaac.\'. Amold, Lincoln seul his origi11aldmft of the Emanctj}{/lion Prodamation to the organize,:sof theJ'ort!twestem Sanita,y Fair, which o/Jened iu Chicago on May 30, 1863. Although he expressed "some desire to retai11this paper," ass1irrn1c es that it wonld be soldal a11di o11and then donated to the Chimgo I-fol oricalSocie(v, conuinced him that it would "contribute to the relief.or comfor! of the soldiers." Purchased ~l' Thomas B. Bryan and presented to the Soldier's Home, which made llthogra/Jhcopiesof ii to sell, the original was 011 disjJ/a)' 111the Hisloriral Soody building al Dearborn aud Ontario Streets whmjlaml'sengulfedthe cit)' ou Ortobrr8- I0, 1871. According to assistaul libmriau Sam Sto11 1', he "alll'ln/Jted to break thefr ame co11tai11in g the Proclamation and fold ii 1111der 11~1coat, it being in a stoutframe. .. . Btlie11 ing a 111i1111l e o11 more to It)' to sm e the Procla111ati would ht' toolalf'f or 11~1• esra/H'. I next 111ad tfo r flit basemen/door . .. raphf aclo esra/Je. ·· 'flt is lilhog; simile of !hi' origiual is one of the coj1ies made lo bmefit the Soldier's 1Iome.
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Above:Frustrated ~l' a seriesofgened no mll111 sias111 to erals who sho11 giz,echa.Sflo the Co11fed erate an19• andf wish it off, in U()'SSes S. Grnnl Liurolnfound a suprrme com111m1dn of the l'11io11mmies mpable of 1mging the kiud of blool(l' wa,Jare that would bring lhl' ronflict lo an md. After mpturiug Rid1111 ond, 1
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the Confederate capital, on April 3, Grantpnrs11 ed l eeand his beleaguered An19•of. ' 01-tf tem Virginia. lin roln 's sureincl dispatchto Grant.ordering him lo press on, captures thl' drama of the moment wftm Union <1 1cl01 y is.finallywithin reach. l eesurrendered two da)S later. ending lite war.
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OpjJosile: Afla hi' wasshotat I 0:20P.,11.011April 14, 1865, the 11nco11Scio11s presidentwas carried acrossthestredfrom Forc/:5Theatre 011a situtter to thePetersenlodging house, wizerehe waslaid diagonally acrossa bedin a small roomoff the Ital!.Throughoutthe night, politiciallSa11dgovermnflllofficials ,,isited, f}(l)'llZ[!.; their resj1ecls to the 11wrlal6 · wou11ded comm.rmder-ind1irf AL7:22A.,ll. the next momi11g AbrahamLincolnbreathedhis last. Thisaffidcwitwith attachedcoi11s verifiesthat ColonelGeorgeV Rutlte,jord/1/acedthesesilverhalfdollcll'.5 on Linco/11 's ,yes immediate6'followinglhe/1resident 's death. Left and below:Chicagosc11Lj1lor LeonardVolk's life masha11dhand cast in bro11 ze in 1860aud this set of lndian-sl)·Le11wcaLSi11S with "AL'"beadedon thempro,•idehistorians with somesenseof Linco/11'5 /1hysical stalure.Standingsixfeet four inchesin heightand weighing about180pounds, Lincoln'sstooj1ed postureand narrowframe gcwe theappearanceof someonesuffering from consumption.His longlegs madehim ajJjJear especial("Y awkwardwhfllsitting.
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In wnjunction with the 1909 centennial celebration of Lincoln's birth, the HistoricalSociety installed an exhibition of Lincolnianafr om its collection. Although it was only on viewf or a week, the Historical Society's Lincoln collection aLLract ed large crowds, including Robert Todd Li11 col11 , son of the president, and hundreds of teachers, principals, and their students. Tlte ex/Jerimce iusjJired l lislorical Society libraria11 Caroline Mcflvaine loJ1roposecreating a special room de//oted lo AbrahamLincoln. Although her idea was notfull;• realized until 1932, when the HistoricalSociety moved Lo a neu1 building in Lincoln Park, much of the Lincoln collection was 0 11 jJ11bli c l iew in its building al Ontario and Dearbont Streets (opposite abm,eand below). 1
fliis colossal bronze head of Lincoln ~l' srnlptor Gut:on Borglum has ocrn/1ied a central place in the Ili slorical Society'sexhibitions of its Lincoln material. ComjJlet ed fi rs/ i11marble i111907.the srnlpture was Borglums labor g of a lifeof loi1' and the begi1111i11 long j){[ssionfor Lincoln. Bo,glum fried lo combine the 111m~1· moods of Li11 roln-es j1l'C ial[l'his sadness and roguish sens,, ofl111111 or-i 11t o his work. Robert [ odd Li11 rol11 called the hrnd '·the 111 ost 1
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extraordinary good /Jorlrait of Ill) ' father I hm1e ever seen," and others praisedit as a great addition lo Americanart. Borglum created a brome statue of a seated Lincoln in 191I f or the courthouse in Kewark, ,\ ew Jersey •, and another colossal marble head of Lincoln in 1919. Borglum is most well known, lwwruer,f or thef our presidents, including Lincoln, that he can,ed 011thef aceof Mount Rushmore.
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Whm it openedits 1u11• Liuco/11 Pnrk building iu 1932(left).!hr I lisloriml Sorir(vj,ro111of('(l it as a 11111se11111 of A11U'rica11 hislo1)'· ' co/lee/io11s. Drawi11g011 its exlensii•t esjJffial(rthe G1mlh1 'r materials acquiffd i,1 1920.the 11wsrn111 told througha sffies ofgallerirs and rooms!hrdra111alir slol)' of lheexjJloratio11 oflhe. \ ew World, the creationofa 11cwnation,and thedn•elopmmlof thedemocratic re/Jlib!ic.
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Below:TheHistoricalSocietydid not maskits reverence for Lincoln. FlankedbyAmericanflags and nestledbetweencasesofLincoln's perso11al items,i11cl11di 11 g a cane and an umbrella,Heafr'stlto11g lttfid Lincolnwas thecenlerjJiece of theHistoricalSociet/s effmlLo glorijj the martyredpresident as Illiuois'sfinest sonand the nation's smâ&#x20AC;˘ior.Thepostlwmousportrait of Lincolnb)'GeorgeP.A. Healy is oneof thefinest portraitsof thepresidenti11theHistorical Societ/scollection. Abo<1e: Aspart of the newbuilding's 011Americanhislmy, e111/1hasis muchof theLinioln materialwas 011 rlisj1lc9 â&#x20AC;˘in the LincolnHall (nowtheLibrmy ReadingRoom). Visitorssawfamily relics,suchas litepianoand thecarriage,J1erso11al itemsof lite/1reside11l, and lifelike portraitsand sculpturesof Lincoln all assembledin onelargesj1ace. 'flzfdassirnfGeorgianarchiteclure of1llcKi111. Mead. and Wltill'creall'd an effganland respfCtjiil almos/Jherf for this homagelo one 'sgreatll'{[dtrs . ofA111crira
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O/J/Josile abol'e:Mn. CharlesB. Pikez,iewslite,mu/;'ojmiedLincoln Dioramas,1941. Localedon the southsideof thefirst floor (now theKraft and Wind classrooms) ofthe !932buildin{!,~ thediornmas de/1idlwe11ty i111/1orta11t eveuls in thelifeof Abra/tamLincoln. lniliall'db)'HistoricalSocie() ' /JresidmlChadt's B. Pike i11 1939as an i111/Jorla11t addilio11 lo thehistoricalroomsand galleriescreatedin 1932,the dioramaevmls werecareful(v researched and built ~1· r111j1lo_)'ees of tfu, ,llust11111 Exln1sion Program.s/Jon.rnffd b)'the WPA d111·i11g !ht' Grail De/1rcssio11. 'flu· dioramasbtca111e q11ilc pofmlarwith 11i.1itors.0111' <1 !ht' dioramas(o/J/Josile bdow) de/1idsLincolnreceivingoj]iciaf
nolificalio11 of his 110111inatio11 as the Rl'jJ11blica11 Partypresidential candidal!'onMa)'19, 1860, in S/Jringfield,Illinois.Another diorama(above)showsLincoln defo•ni11g his memorablewords al the dl'dicalio11 of a Union so/,diercemete,yin Gellysb111g, Pe1111s)'lz,ania. The Gelt)'Sburg Address,withoutdoubtthe most famous speechin American hislor)',standsas oneof the mostj){)werfuf slalc111enls 011 the 111ea11i11g of war everwrillen.
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Opposite: In lite J1ast,modelsand HistoricalSociel)'patro11s posed wfaringdressesand accessories from thecostumecollection. Aba11do11ffl decadesagoas a jm1cticetltat damagesfragile historicalclothing,the Historical Societytodaymakesgreate/Jorlslo restoreand prese111e suchartifacts. This II nidentifiedwomanfrom 1930is weari11g a dressthat belonged to Mmy ToddLincoln. 17ieHistoricalSocietyhas an 1e colleclio11 extensi1 of illa1)' Todd Lincoln'sclothing,personalitems, and plwlog;mphs. In Ja1111a1 y 1942,theIfistoricalSociety displa)'edilfm)' ToddLincoln material(above),includingthe capeand bonnetsheallegedly woreat Ford's17,eatre011 April 14. 1865.a11da 111011111i11ggow11, /'. 1867.
Right:Ma,)' ToddLincoln 11ilh sous Willieand fad J1osed for J1lwlogmj1her PrestonBuller i111860i11Springfield,Illinois. 1
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Sgt. DorolhJ' D. Tamplin(l4i) and Sgt. Ed11aJ. Hrbek(right) enjo)'tea in the LincolnParlor aspart of theHistoriwl SocieÂŁ1 ''.s 1944 celebration of Linco/11'.s birthdax TheLincolnParlor, a 1e-creatio11 of Lincoln'sSpringfield home,waslocaled011 the l"f' secondfloor.Fealuri11gf11mit11 alleged9usedbythefamily in Sprzng;field, thejJarlor,like its miniaturedioramacounle1j)[lr{s, waspart of theHistoricalSocictfs effortstogivevisiton a credible senseofAbrahamLincoln'slife. 1
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Tltis re-creation of the Petenm lodgiug housf room where Linco/11 diedf eatures the actualbed, gas jc!, aud bureauJimn Washing/011 D.C.,which wereacquired as part of the Charles Gu11th rrjnirclwse. Aperennialfa vorite a111 ong visitors of all ageslo the Historical Sociel)', the room (now a staff off ice)was origi11al9Located on the thirdfl oor adjacent lo the Lincoln Galle,y. lu 1972, it was reinstalled in lite Lincoln Gallery in the new addition, and since 1990, the bed and other Petersen house materials are on disjJLCl) ' in the A I-louse Divided: America in the Age of Lincoln exhibition. 1
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Abm•e: Annnl guardsJlan/1the exhibition011the Gd{rsburg Addl"l'ss. whichwas 0111 iru i11 Iii<'LincolnHall. Begi1111ing 011 19. 1950,a11d for the .\ cJ11embcr nr:,Jtwehc da)'S,the IEistoriml Socir(v/m'senlcdthtfi1r existinf!, ro/Jit 'S oflht' Grlt)'SburgAddffss 1l'l·ittcnin Lincolns 011 11 hand. ,llorethan 10.000i 1silorssaw tlU' exhibition.whichbroughttogdh/'/' tlu· dornmmtsfimn four co//cdio11s for thefirst time in histo,_,.. 1
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Ab01e:A I louse DiYided:America in the .\ge or Lincoln, whicho/}('11ed in J990, replacedtheCiiil IVarand Li11co/11 galleries.Combiningmaterialfrom bothexhibitions,A I louse Di\ided /JlacedLincolnwithina broadnationalcontext,inte,preting his lifebothas rtjJrese11talive of the multitudeofAmericanswhomoved West and as a singularforcein AmericanjJolilicsand society ¡ wholeft a nationallega9. 1
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Therenozialion of llzeChicagoHistoricalSociet/s buildingin 1989 createda modernfacility lo med its needsas a researchcenterand a museuIll . Enhancedenvironmmlal systemsensurellzallhecollections, includingtheLincolnmaterials, arecarefull), preservedand new exhibitiongallerieshelj1loproiide for creali1e learningexperiences )'OIi ng and oldalike.Augustus Saint-Gaudens'smagnificentstatue of Lincoln, locatedon theeastside of thebuilding, is an enduring symbolof the special,dationship of America'.5sixteenthjJresident to theHistoricalSociety. 1
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YESTERDAY'SCITY "All Prairiedom has Broken Loose" Raymond Brod Political participants of today need take no more trouble to "atte nd " a debat e between candidates than to check the tel evision schedule, making sure to be home on the night of the event. We sit in comfort in our living rooms, observing the politicians as they speak in a carefully contro lled environment. The camera brings us within inches of the cand idat es' faces. We can hear every word and evaluate every pause. Millions watch-during the final debate of the Bush-Clinton contest in 1992 , televisions were on in 42 million households .
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In contra t, the 1858 Senate deba tes between Stephen Douglas and Abraham Lincoln co mbined with politics the elements of a circus, of a picnic , of a religious revival. The crowds surrounding each town 's platform numbered only in thousands , not in millions. But man y of the people making up those thous ,mds had traveled Raymond M. Brod is a cartographerfor the Geography Program, De/Jarhnentof Anthropology,Universityof Illinois at Chicago.He is also a PhD candidate i11histmy al the U11ivm,ityof lllinois at Chicago.
Although Ste/JhenDouglas (far left) and Abraham Lincoln (left) were debating vital issuesthat would have seriousconsequences for the nationand its peoJJ/e,the crowd attending the debates encountered a carnival-like atmos/Jhere.The imagebelow,from!he Febmmy 13, 1909, Co llier's, captures the moodof the meny and excited crowdarriving in townfor the debates.
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Opposite and above: Lincoln, the underdog in the campaign,first proposed the idea of a series of debates. In an exchangeof le/lers, he and Douglasquicklysetlledthe number, theJonna/, and the locations of the debates.
mile to reach their destination. They viewed the proceedings from a distance with none of the electronic enhancements we take for granted today-listeners in the back of the crowd might need Lo read the paper the following clay to learn what each candidate said. These crowds, however, participated in the debate in a way we no longer can. They booed or cheered, affirmed or disputed each statement by the opposing can-
diclates. Participants interviewed decades later retained clear impressions of the clay's events. Accounts from those who wrote about their experiences suggest that for the audience, the debate clays uniquely combined socializing, edu cation, and entertainment. The crowds that witnessed the drama of the debates came from all parts of Illinois and even from surrounding states. "All prairiedom has 61
.... ChicagoHislo1y, Spring 1996 broken loose" announced the New York Evening Post about the debate attendance numbers in Freeport. Considering the festivities, one would scarcely guess that the topic of the debate was the status of human bondage, an issue that divided the country. Conflict over the presence of slave in the southern states, a divisive issue since the founding of the republic and even in colonial clays, escalated during the 1850s. The Compromise of 1850, a series of bills that made concessions to both pro- and antislavery forces, had failed to lessen the tension between opposing factions. In 1854, tensions increased with the passage of the Kan as-Nebraska Act. This bill repealed the Missouri Compromise, passed in 1820, which had outlawed slavery in the Louisiana Purchase north of 39° 30' latitude, except in Missouri. It declared that the citizens of Kansas and ebraska territories would vote on whether to enter the Union as free or slave states, "popular sovereignty" determining each state's status rather than federal law. Both proand antislavery groups began migrating into Kansas, and the violence on the border between Kansas and Missouri was such that the territory became known as "bleeding Kansas." In 1858, the incumbent Stephen Dougla and the lesser-known Abraham Lincoln debated the central issues of slavery and union in the contest for the Senate seat from Illinois, a local race that received national attention. Spectators arrived by the thousands at the debate towns of Ottawa, Freeport, Jonesboro, Charleston, Gale burg, Quincy, and Alton, traveling in a variety of conveyances that testified to their enthusiasm. Colonel F. W. Hart, then an eighteen-year-old observer at Freeport, stated that:
Mattison , a sixteen-year-old al the time of the Freeport debate, remembered riding twentytwo miles in a "democrat wagon" from Mount Morris to Freeport, "so anxious was I to see and hear these champions on either side of such an absorbing political issue." Wagons of all sorts clogged the roads. Riverboats served some of the debate towns. Lincoln and Douglas traveled together from Quincy to Alton by river steamer. Boats such as "City of Louisiana, " "White Cloud," and "Baltimore " carried participants to and from the debates. A few hundred citizens used canal boats Loget to Ottawa, located in the interior of the tate. In the western part of the state, where roads were almost totally absent, spectators relied more heavily on railroads. In order to promote attendance al the debates the railroad companies advertised special excursion rates. For urban dwellers from distant locations, newspapers printed detailed instructions concerning fares, special accommodations, departure depots, and locations of ticket sales offices. The report of the Ollawa WeeklyRepublican indicates the success of these promotions : the extra train or cars from the \>\'es t about I I o'clock, brought from three to five hundred from counties west of us ; the eastern train a little later, had 16 ca1-swell fiued, containing not less than a thousand.
ot all trains were as well-equipped as the ones bound for Ottawa . Enthusiast heading for the Galesburg debate uffered less than adequate accommodations. Earnest Calkins, in a history of Galesburg, reported that these participants rode a chartered train made up of:
people came from nea1¡ and far to hear the noted orators. Only few came on railway trains as railways were then scarce in the slate. TI1ey mostly came in prairie schooners, in wagons, buggies, etc., also on horse back , mule back,jack [jackass] back , and ox back, while thousands came on foot, probably.
two coaches and eighteen Aat and box cars, f-itted up with rough seats, and three engines , one in from and two behind. But in ~pite of all that locomotive power, the train stalled on the grades, and the male passengers turned out LO push it uphill. It reached ... Galesburg just as Douglas on the college campus a mile away finished his speech.
Charles Marsh, a farm implement manufacturer, recalls that in his childhood he and his brother "went by carriage down to Ottawa, thirty miles distant Lo attend the debate held there between Lincoln and Douglas." 0. F.
Opposite:This 1854 Illinois majJshowsthe spread of railroad~acrossthe state. Many of those allendi11gthe debatesin 1858 lookadvantage of this new methodof lransjJortation, whichconnectedall sevendebatetownslo the restof the slate.
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The crowdal the Freepmtdebate,as depictedin a dioramacreatedfor the ChirngoHistoricalSociety.
When they finally arrived in town, weary travelers found hotel rooms scarce, and those available were not considered suitable by more sophisticated travelers from places such as Chicago. Many private homes, and steamboats where available, offered lodging, but many peop le slept overnight in their wagons, finding place in vacant lots or parks. George Beatty, who attended the Ottawa debate, said that: the hotels, livery stable , and private hou es were soon crowded to capacity. The people then spread out about town, and camped in whatever spot was most convenient. They went along the bluff and the bottom lands, and that night the camp-fires spread up and down the valley for a mile, and it looked as if an army gathered about us.
Many accounts recall whole families attending the debates. Political functions provided an opportunity for parents to inculcate children into the family political culture. In recalling the Galesburg debate he witnessed as a youth, G. W. Gale wrote: I was near enough to hear the words and from my home teaching to know that everything Lincoln said wa right, and that all from Douglas was wrong, but all else I knew then was that I should and did cheer and "Hun-ah for Lincoln" whenever opportunity offered.
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Adults realized that the children were the voters of tomorrow and involved them in the political process. In 1856, when Lincoln and Chicago politician John Wentworth, were in Oregon, Illinois, waiting to stump for Fremont, they amused themselves by counting the babies in their mothers' arms. There were about seventy babie , they agreed, all ready to "receive their political christening." Historian Jean Baker states that, however partisan, the process of educating children in politics indicates that: the challenge was to produce an active citizenry who attended public affairs (thereby preventing tyranny), who accepted a new system of government (thereby installing federalism), and who exchanged positions of leadership without violence (thereby assuring a representative government).
In Freeport, school was dismissed, so that parents and chiklren could attend the debate together. Although only men could vote, women took an active role in the political process, and parents taught political ideas not only to sons, but also to daughters. J. Dunn drove his older sister thirty-five miles to attend the Galesburg debate because "our fathers and mother , with their very limited means, wanted their children to hear the best of our speakers." Mrs. M. J. Klock, who attended the debate when she was
Yesterday'sCity seven, wrote that her father was quite angry because Lincoln made no impression on her. On the day of the debate each town became a great po litica l circus, with a wide assortment of activities. Adu lts entertained themselves in a variety of ways, including, for many of them, debat ing, carrying placards, visiting, fighting , or trying to d iscredit a political opponent. To maintain crowd control, each debate town created a committee formed of members representing the two political parties. These committees mapped out separate parade routes and separate rally areas for eac h candi date, as well as planning other logistics, such as parking areas for wagons and other vehicles . These efforts, however, were only partially successfu l. The gatherings, after all, were intended to be active, vociferous, and noisy. The Daily ChicagoTimes reported that in Galesburg, the "Black Republicans " (a phrase considered insulting that Democrats used in referring to their opponents):
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had made every eITort to bring out a large crowd, sparing neither money or pain s . . . . Their comm ittee addressed a private leu er to th e lead ing Repub licans in various sections of the srnTounding country, begging them to bring their people to Ga lesburg in delegation s with na gs and banners; but notwithstanding a ll this , ... th e Democrats ouurnmbered them almost two lo one, and mad e a much finer demonstration.
GLAS, THE CHAMPION Of POP ULAR SOVEREIGNTY ,"
(I11e historian of today is hard put to it to decide which party did , in fact, make the "finer demonstration." News organs of the time made no attempt to be nonpartisan , but free ly slanted the news in favor of their candidate or political party. The same debate might be hailed as a Douglas victory in a Democratic pap er, such as the Daily Chicago Times, and as a triumph for Lincoln in the Chicago Press and Tribune and other papers that supported the Republicans.) By the time the guests of honor arrived in town the festivitie had been minutely organized. For Dougla the politicaJ contest began upon reaching the outskirts of town. The bang of a six-pound cannon signa led his arriva l, usually in his special train car. The train, the embodiment of progr ess and modernity as well a a reminder that Douglas had helped develop Illinois 's railr oads, steamed into the station with its whistle blowing. In
draped the side of the baggage car. The cannon and the whistle summoned the faithful to the train station. With banners and torches in hand, the Democrats marched to show support for the "Little Giant." Linco ln 's entrance into the various debate towns were usually less au picious_ Sometimes in a carriage, sometimes on a purchased train ticket, twice in a special chartered train of supporters, Linco ln would get to town as best he could and arrived without benefit of cannonfire. In front of the ra ilroad station a bonfire usually greeted the politicians, and supporters of both candidates, holding lanterns , began snaking their way to the assigned headquarters, usuall y a hotel. Fires were important symbols in political rallies of the nineteenth cent ur y . In describing Douglas 's passage through Camp Point en route to Quincy , the
This flyer urging attendance at a rallyfor Lincoln is the only known campaignbroadsideremainingfimn the 1858 lllinoi.ssenatorialmce.
Freeport, a huge banner, announcing "S. A. Doc -
65
ChicagoHistory, Spring 1996
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PEOPLE OFILLINOIS, READ ANDIE CONVINCED,' Tb• lu& of lll• -1• of ·Joi.DI.S...... betwMo Seaator 1>ou.1lu aod Hoa. Ab.-.lwn Llaool • 10.t pl•"" a\ ..UIOD OD Friday . From a.. IO \N \boa· ., l&Dd peopl• were aueDdaoo., ,b• - •l0• •11 or
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Daily ChicagoTimes reported that "Every house in the town was illuminated-presenting altogether, one of the finest spectacles witnessed during this splendid campaign." Historian Jean Baker says that: a long with military im ages, light was central to these affa irs. The huge bonfires, the flaming tarbarrels, the torchlights and kerosene lamps ... , tJ1e fireworks, the illuminated houses, and calcium lights conveyed the sense of purification.
On occasions when the candidates arrived the night before the debate, they retired , after
66
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Above: The only media available to spread i11jor111ation about the debales lo !hose not in allenda11r e, the 11ew.1/J11jm :s of the day unashamedlypromoted their own candidates, as seen i11these headlinesfrom !he Daily Chicago Times and the Chicao-o Press and Tribune .
the initial parade, for meetings and dinner at private homes with friend and supporters . Sometimes an even ing reception wou ld al o be held in the host 's home whi le a local band serenaded the group from the yard. The morning of the debate witnessed the orga ni zat ion of the great parade, with Ooats, banners, carriages, band , and general marchers. At about noon , parade mar hals gathered the participants into a line, sometimes extending for miles.
Yesterday'sCity D. F. Spencer, a young man from Freeport, recalled the many long hours practicing to march in the parade when Lincoln and Douglas came to Quincy.
Calkin's history of Galesburg describes a Roat in that city's parade celebrating Douglas 's appearance. It carried:
We had capes of black oil cloth with the name in honor of Lincoln. [Another club was] the Hickor y Club in honor of Douglas. They wore black pants and a 1-ed shirt. We all had torches and drilled with them every night for two weeks before Lincoln and Douglas a1-rived.
a good sized tree, its roots firmly plamed in the wagon box, with thirty-two boys cling ing to thirtytwo limb, each waving a Aag with the name ofa State on it. There were godde ses of liberty. plump matronly women in red, white, and blue, with golden crowns on their heads, and mottoes and slogans, and war cries of all shades of political belief, mostly Democratic.
Floats filled the parade route. Children, male and female, were present on many of the Aoats. In Charleston's parade , one float celebrated the connection of the Republican party to the legacy of Hemy Clay, a prominent senator and presidential candidate of the Whig party before its dissolution and the formation of the Republican party. The float carried thirty-two girls dressed in white with green velvet caps, each girl representing a state of the union. A sign on the side of the Roat proclaimed: "Westward the Star of Empire Takes its Way, Our Girls Link-on to Lincoln, Their Mothers were for Clay." At the side, mounted on a white horse, rode a girl representing Kansas Ten-itory who "flourished a banner that told the world 'I will be Free."' Some Roats depicted Kan as in black to mow-n "bleeding Kansas."
on-party sponsored vehicles were also in abundance. Wagons with bands, riders on horseback, wealthy folk in decorated carriages, pedestrians carrying signs or symbols, and even commercial floats graced the parade . Most floats supported a political theme with a poem or slogan, a creative scene, or a depiction of a significant event in Lincoln's or Douglas 's political life. Banners were everywhere. Supporters from the various regions of Illinois carried banners proclaiming "Carro ll County for Abraham Lincoln," "Edgar County good for five hundred majority for the 'Little Giant,"' and "The Galena Lincoln Club." Others displayed pictures of Douglas or the Hickory Club (symbolic of Andrew Jackson, known as "Old Hickory") .
I be longed to the club "Wideawakes".
Thoseal the back of the cro11 d al the debatesmight have seen Lilliemorethan tinyfigures 011 the platform, as this illustration in the Febrnary 13, I 909, Collier's indirntl!.1. The recollectionsof the viewers, ho11ever, indicate that even those on the /1eri/Jhl'1) ' had a strong senseof parlici/xitionin this historicevent. 1
1
67
Chicago Histo,y, Spring 1996
Robert Hitt servedas stenogra/1herforthe Chicago Press and Tribune, taking down the debatesi11shortlwndso that theycould be reproducedin the paper thefollowing day.
In Galesburg, Democrats carried hickOI)' stems pinned with hickory leaves. In Quincy an enthusiastic Republican carried a long pole with a live raccoon, symbol of the Whig Party, perched on top of it. There is one reference to Democrats in a parade carrying poles with dead raccoons hanging from them. Many messages were racist, in ulting, and bmtally direct. "Slogans" such as, "This government was made for white men/Douglas for life," "Down with Abolitionists," plus derogatory racial slurs left no doubt about where some tood on the issue of slavery and equality. By early morning the streets around the public speaking area were impassable. Street vendors sold cider, watermelons, and other refreshments. Stores erected pecial booths in front of them, and if the town had sidewalks, they were usually occupied by tables of goods available for sale to the multitudes that pa sed by. Horses, barking dogs, and wagons, as well as crowds of people, clogged the thoroughfares. An observer at Galesburg noted that: every inch of space on the line of march was taken. The people stood on the sidewalk, in the windows, on the roofs, and on the arcade or wood awning which covered the sidewalks.
68
The debates started around two in the afternoon. As spectators filed into the area, they passed tables piled high with the bounty of the surrounding farms. Meat roasted over huge fires in ditches six feet wide and six feet deep. D. F. Spencer, who had marched with the Wideawakes in Quincy, remembered that "we had circus lemonade and all we could drink." The focus of activity for the day now changed to the speaker 'stand. People pressed as closely to the platform as possible. The Freeport crowd was so thick that the stenographer for the Chicago Press and Tribune, Robert Hitt, had LO be lifted over the head of the people and carried to the podium. Some spectators in Ottawa fell through the roof of the speakers' stand because their perch gave way. In Quincy part of the stand collapsed, spilling people onto the ground. The platform generally had room for about forty to sixty persons. The speakers were seated in the center, surrounded by the platform committee, stenographers, newspaper reporters , party leaders , guests, and the moderators , who also served as timekeepers. Newspaper accounts indicate that the candidates did not let the presence of moderators prevent them from speaking their minds. In Freeport, Douglas assailed his hearers as "Black Republicans," characterizing their interruptions as "vulgar and black-guard," shaking his fist, and
Above:Eve1ydebatetownprovideda generoussjmad offood and drink. Opposite:The campaign remainedvivid in the 111emo11es of tlwse whoJxnticipatedin it. Thi5letterfimnR. W. McC!augl11y, writt,en fifty-fiveyearsafterthe event,recallsthe "strenuous times" when he "carriedthe Douglas Banner throughall the Douglas and lincoln Campaignof 1858."
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69
ChicagoHistory, Spring 1996 declaring "I have seen your mobs before and I defy your wrath." Incensed audience members retaliated by pelting the senator with watermelon rinds. The ChicagoDailyTimes reported of the Alton debate that in an "improper and ungentlemanly" way, Lincoln seated himse lf: wher-e his motions could not be observed by the Senator, and whenever a point 1rns made against him , would shake his hand at the crowd, intimating that it was not true , and that they shou ld place no reliance on what was said . This of course was in direct violation of the ru les of the debate, and was a mean trick, beneath the dignity of a man of honor.
Crowds were estimated to be in the thousands, and the noise they created sometimes drowned out the speaker . People talking, babies crying, and animals making all sort of noises competed with the political rhetoric. Newspapers reported deafening and rousing cheers. Captain Reese stated that at Jonesboro "some roughnecks in a wagon with fiddles tried to drown out Lincoln when speaking." Candidates needed strong voices that could reach to the back of the crowd. Horace White , a reporter who had covered the debates for the ChicagoPressand Tribune, recalled that Lincoln spoke with a falsetto voice, "almo t as high pitched as a boatswain 's whistle," well-suited to stump speaking. Douglas spoke, according to White, in a "rich baritone" with a "smooth ... unhesitating Aow of words," but his voice did not project as well as Lincoln's, a problem that became more acute as the debates progressed. The Missouri Democrat, which supported Lincoln, reported that in Quincy Douglas "looked very much the worse for wear. Bad whiskey and the fear of conscience have had their effect." His face was puffy and his voice audible only to those close Lo the platform. By the time the debates reached Alton, Dougla 's voice had all but disappeared. Horace v\'hite stated that Douglas: was so hoarse that he cou ld not be distinct ly heard more than twenty feet from the platform .... [Hi voice] was worn our by incessant speaking , not at the seven debate only [at which each candidate spoke for an hour and a halt] , but at nearly a hundred separate meeting~ .
70
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This illustration,Jro111 an 1858 lithograph, captures the combative na/11re that Douglas displayed during the debates, showing him as a well-armed gladiator with a shieldof "popularsovereignty."
Douglas's diminishing performance had a variety of causes. In 1855, after a previous bout of ill health and hoarseness, Douglas had an operation in which doctors remoYed a portion of his lower palate . He also suffered from recurring rheumatism. To ease the problems of audibility, as well as to spread the news to distant areas, newspaper stenographers made onsite tran cripts of the speeches. At least six newspapers, orne from as far away as Boston and New York, had representatives on the speakers' platform recording the proceedings of the debate . Many of the Illinois papers reproduced the debates in their entirety. After a debate ended, usually at about five o'clock, the spectators dispersed. Some repaired to the various politica l headquarters for receptions with the candidates; others filled the streets to continue the festivities. Out-oftown families left the podium area to eat wherever they could and plan the trip home. Party regulars followed their heroes about, and
Yesterday' City reporters attempted to catch every word Lincoln or Douglas uttered. At the Democratic reception, the festivities never seemed to stop; drinks and loud talk were conspicuous. Amy Davis Winship attended the receptions held after the Jonesboro debat e in southern Illinois , where the majorit y of the crowd supported Douglas. She recalled how people surged into Douglas's reception room and filed p ast him to "do him honor , bowing, shaking hands , flattering him , pledging loyalty and votes , and receiving in return from th e stocky little man bland smiles and per siflage. " Upon entering Lincoln 's re ception room, Winship "beh eld the towering presence of Lincoln, a lon e figure standing beside the window." At that time, Lincoln had no political favors to offer the populace . Even in northern Illinois where Lin coln 's support was strongest, th e contrast between receptions was marked. C. W. Macune re called visiting th e Douglas reception in Freeport, where the "large room was full [of men] , all standing, and man y of th em talking and smoking." In Lincoln's room "it was quiet, with only a few gentlemen present. "
Above: Herbert Whitecoveredthe debatesfor the Chicago Pr ess and Tribune, often traveling with Lincoln. H is contem/Joraryreports and later memories of the debates provide much information about the events of the ca111jJaign. Below: Lincoln dominates the scene in this relief commemoratingthe debates,createdfor the domeof the Illi11oisStatehouse.
71
Chicago History, Spring 1996
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T he crowd that h ad descended on the town dispersed slowly, many staying on to extend the festivities. When night fell, banooms and hotels filled, bonfires blazed on every street corner, torchlight processions marched along with bands, and political clubs fraternized. Courthous e steps hosted impromptu debates, sometimes includin g inebriated speakers vying with each other for a chance to voice an opinion. The intense interest indicated by the o-owds at the debates showed in the turnout at the polls in November. In spite of a heavy rain throughout most of the state, more Illinoisans voted than had in the presidential election two years before . Stephen Douglas ultimately returned to the United States Senate, but the publicity surrounding the debates had brought Abrahan1 Lincoln to the attention of the nation. The two opponents would again meet in the presidential race of 1860, when history would favor Lincoln. IL LUSTRATIONS
58-59, from Collier's (Feb. 13, 1909), CHS Librat) '; 59 top left, CHS , ICHi-10097; 59 top right , Librat) ' of Congress; 60, Library ofCongre s; 61, CHS, Archive and Manuscripts Collection ; 63, CHS Libraq ·; 6..J., CHS, Decorative and Indusu -ial Arts Collection ; 65, Illinois State Historical Librat)'; 66 left, from Daily Chicago Times (October 17, 1858), CHS Librai-y; 66 1-ight,from ChicagoPress and Tribune (September 21, 1858), CHS Llbrat)'; 67, from Collier's (Feb. 13, 1909), CHS Library; 68 top, from Collections of Llz e Illinois Slate Historical Library, v . 3 (1908), CHS Library; 68 bottom , from Collier's (Feb. 13, 1909), CHS Libra•)'; 69, CHS , Archive and Maimscripts Collection; 70, CHS, ICHi-220 32; 71 72
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