The Usual Suspects?

April 15th is coming up and we all know what day that is -- the day Lincoln died. It is also tax day and the day the Titanic sank.

Anyway, I was looking around, wondering if there were any new assassination theories out there and I came across this one – Mary shot Abe. Now maybe that’s not new, but it’s new to me. I laughed at first, but you know how it is, you start thinking about it and the next thing you know – well, here’s a link to the whole story.

Mary Did It.

It is intriguing that the weapon used was a woman’s pistol, that the bullet wound was on the side where Mary was sitting, and that she was the only first lady to be refused a widow’s pension. But then, Mary had that kind of luck. And while I don’t believe Lincoln had twins by a Hapsburg, I do know that Mary had plenty of anger toward her husband, enough to threaten him with an axe on one occasion. But who did Mary blame for the assassination? Johnson. Johnson Did It.

But wait, there’s more! Consider these spin-off theories: Lincoln was slated to be kidnaped and turned into an opium addict; Lincoln was really Booth’s spurned lover; Boston Corbett killed Booth to cover up his own complicity; McClellan was seen dining with Booth in Canada; Booth had an understudy and a double.....

If you have a pet conspiracy theory of who really killed Lincoln, see if it isn’t one of these: We All Did It. Don’t worry about how strange your idea might be. After all, there’s a theory that Edgar Allan Poe was killed by his cat. The Cat Did It.

All this may not mean anything but it certainly proves one thing: you can get right up behind somebody, blow him away, trip over a flag, break your leg, get identified by dozens of people and still have to share the spotlight with a bunch of contenders. Poor Booth. From the very beginning, he resented that.

Lincoln Has Entered the Building

Who says Lincoln is dead? This year he will be more alive than Elvis as a great new traveling exhibit makes its way across the country to coincide with the 200th anniversary celebration of his birth.

"Forever Free: Abraham Lincoln's Journey to Emancipation'' will be on display at 63 public, community college and university libraries across the United States through 2010.

Organized in part by the Huntington Library, the panel exhibit features five themes: Young Lincoln's America; The House Dividing; War for the Union; War for Union and Freedom and Legacies.

Musical and educational programs are included, as are photographs of Lincoln's funeral train and historical documents from his presidency. But there is much, much more than this.

Libraries selected for the tour will host the exhibit for a six-week period. For more information on how you can catch Lincoln, see: Lincoln Lives

"Son of the Republic, Look and Learn"

Today is Washington’s birthday.

Most people know that Lincoln had dreams predicting the future, including his own assassination. But not many people realize that Washington had premonitions as well, and one very strange vision at Valley Forge about three great wars that would overtake America.

Washington did not find this vision disturbing, but was happy to know that the Republic would have a future at all. At Valley Forge, he was certain that the new country was finished.

Three times an angel appeared to Washington, heralding "Son of the Republic, look and learn," and presented him with highly symbolic pictures of battles. Washington recognized the first war as the Revolutionary War. The second war can be recognized by us as the Civil War, and the third seems to be a future, unnamed war involving an assault by Europe, Asia and Africa.

Did the vision really happen? Though the text is in the Library of Congress, some doubt it. But LincolnFreak never doubts a good story. Check out one of the many websites presenting George Washington’s Vision.

Tours Start Tuesday

Happy Presidents’ Day from LincolnFreak.

Thanks to my excellent Sources, I’ve learned that President Lincoln’s Cottage at the Soldiers’ Home in Washington opens to the public for tours on Tuesday, February 19th.









In 2000, this 34-room Gothic Revival cottage was designated a National Monument. Under the guidance of Richard Moe, president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, more than $15 million was raised to renovate the house and turn a nearby building into a visitors’ center.
The cottage was built by businessman George W. Riggs, who sold it in 1851 along with more than 250 acres to the United States government.

It became part of a federal home for retired and disabled veterans, but in 1857, also offered a quiet retreat for presidents.

For more information, check out this great article from the New York Times. Where Lincoln Sought Refuge

Also, if you’ve ever wondered what Lexington, Kentucky looked like in 1847 (Mary’s birthplace, after all) read this article from the Lexington Herald-Leader, forwarded to me from another truly reliable Source. Lexington As Abe Saw It

Happy Lincoln's Birthday

Happy birthday from LincolnFreak! February 12th truly is Lincoln’s birthday. It comes between Ground Hog Day and Valentine’s Day.

And this is the big 199! That’s right. Next year Abraham Lincoln will be two hundred years old and looking better than ever.

Notice how many books have come out on Lincoln this year? I’ve tried to add as many as I could to Son of Bookzilla, but new ones keep coming out all the time.

On the day before his 52nd birthday in1861, Lincoln gave one of his saddest and most beautiful speeches – his Farewell Address – before boarding a train from Springfield to Washington, D.C.
Now here’s something to ponder. If you could give Lincoln a birthday present today, what would you give him? Somebody suggested the best gift I could give him would be to dismantle this blog.
Also, Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, so start thinking about "Why I love Lincoln." It could be any number of reasons: I love Lincoln because he represents freedom. I love Lincoln because he struggled to keep the country together. I love Lincoln because I get a day off in the middle of Winter.

You get the idea. So during this month of February which celebrates so many different people and causes – Presidents, Black history, Valentines, the forecasting of Spring – take some time to think about where we would be if Lincoln had never been president. Alternative histories are fun to imagine, but the absence of one key person at one crucial juncture in time could create awful consequences for generations to come.

So happy birthday from LincolnFreak. Enjoy the legacy of a great man.

Douglass and King: What if they had traded places?

On this weekend celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr’s birthday, one wonders what things would have been like if King and Frederick Douglass had traded places. What if King had lived during the Civil War and been the one to advise Lincoln on matters of equal rights and emancipation? Would his thinking have been any different from Douglass’s?

Both men were African Americans in tune with their times and impatient for social change. Both were strong orators. Both had the ear of politically powerful people and became powerful in their own right. Both were anxious to have racial justice backed by law. There’s no question that Martin Luther King, Jr. would have been the Frederick Douglass of the 1860's.

But what about Douglass? Suppose he had been thrown into the politics of the Sixties? Would he have been the Martin Luther King, Jr. of that day? Even in his time, Douglass was concerned not just with racial equality, but with the emancipation of women – another radical idea. The Sixties would have suited him well with its air of new freedoms and he would have been right in step with the issues.

Which brings up the next thought. While Douglass escaped assassination in his day, would he have done so in the Sixties, or shared the same fate as the man who so resembled him? Hmm. There’s a choose-your-own-ending adventure here.

Interesting that these two powerful men rose up at crucial times when their talents and strengths were most needed to push forward racial justice causes. No one has quite illustrated the similarities between them the way they have with Kennedy and Lincoln, yet Douglass and King bear curious resemblances that tie in with the whole 100-year picture of repeated history.

Portents on the First Month of the Year

It has been said that if you know how to spend January, you know how to spend the rest of your life.

Lincoln knew how to make the most out of January. Not only did he issue the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1st, 1863, he also welcomed the first African American to a White House New Year’s Day reception in 1864, and broke his engagement to Mary Todd on January 1st, 1841 -- probably the wisest decision he ever made.

On January 8th, 1863, he appointed John Usher Secretary of the Interior, and on January 8th, 1864, he posed for this stunning photograph for Matthew Brady.

On January 17th, 1851, his father, Thomas Lincoln, passed away from a kidney ailment. Lincoln did not attend the funeral.