Lincoln was born in Kentucky and lived as a child in Indiana but it was in Illinois that he made his home as an adult. It was here that he suffered his first failures and his first successes. He met his wife and together they had four children while building his law career in Springfield.
He was speaking of Illinois when he stated,
"To this place I owe everything."
Mongerson Farm, La Fox, Illinois
I've just finished reading, Looking for Lincoln, which is an amazing collection of photos and first person accounts and remembrances. He was more complex than imagined and not the legend that is sometimes portrayed. Although he fought for emancipation and the preservation of the union, his Indian policies were abysmal in contrast.
We owe him a debt of gratitude for staying the course when it was unpopular. In the end he gave his life.
Illinois 8th Cavalry Civil War Re-enactors
If you ever get the chance, visit the Lincoln Museum and Presidential Library in Springfield, Illinois. It brings Lincoln, his family and his contemporaries to life.
My Flicker Photostream from the Lincoln Museum, New Salem and the Lincoln Tomb.
5 comments:
Thanks for this. I love Lincoln and anything readable about him. I hadn't heard about Looking for Lincoln but I woke up in the night and switching channels found it on PBS. I laid here the rest of the night mesmerized by it. He fascinated me beyond measure and has since I first learned of him as a child. I was shocked this morning as they interview a group in the South that a lot of people still feel he was and still is a war criminal. Wow. I'd never heard that. I wishwishwish I was in Springfield today. Or anytime. But today especially.
Ahhh, yes, the 200th anniversary of his birth...quite a remembrace. I've always loved the photo you've shared.
A study of Lincoln's life is fascinating. He was a human being with all the flaws that entails, but he also had remarkable reserves of courage in the midst of terrible times.
I was just reading a piece that Doris Kearns Goodwin wrote about the Lincoln marriage...also fascinating stuff.
I find it interesting that Google has changed their logo to celebrate Charles Darwin today and not Abe Lincoln...very interesting.
Our US History just fascinates me and I love it...I realize that I should have taken a career in our History...you know...my dream job would be to work in one of those old time Villages where you have to dress up in traditional garb.
Great post Suzanne
What a beautiful tribute to Lincoln!
I grew up very close to the part of Indiana where Lincoln spent his boyhood...many elementary school trips involved Lincoln State Park and the Lincoln Boyhood Memorial in Spencer Co, Indiana. And I now live not too far from where he was born in Kentucky.
I know many people put Lincoln up on a pedestal, however I've heard a lot of the opposite view on Lincoln...one of which came from the professor in my Civil War history class in college (no, he isn't a Confederate at heart...LOL...he's very much a Yankee). He said history has made Lincoln into a near-perfect man and that wasn't the case. Lincoln had a lot of thoughts/ideas and made a lot of rather significant mistakes, many of which you don't hear about because people are too busy lauding him. History has allowed Lincoln's shortcomings to fade into the background. (and going back and re-reading your post, I see that you mentioned that when talking about the Looking for Lincoln book)
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