Abraham Lincoln had many Quincy connections

Today a grateful nation
observes the 203rd anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s birth, and Quincy can
celebrate his many close connections with our community.

It is likely that Lincoln first made the acquaintance of
Quincyans in 1832 during the Black Hawk War, 10 years after John Wood settled
in Quincy and while Lincoln called New Salem home. Militia units from both
areas met near Rushville in response to Gov. Reynolds’ call for 1,500 mounted
volunteers and served in the campaign.

In 1834 Lincoln joined Archibald Williams, representing
Quincy, in the Illinois House of Representatives in Vandalia. In 1836 Lincoln
met newly elected Sen. Orville H. Browning and his wife Eliza. Their close
personal friendship would last until Lincoln’s assassination. Eliza became
Lincoln’s confidante and social mentor, beginning what turned into Lincoln’s
longest-lasting female relationship. Other Quincyans including Abraham Jonas,
Jackson Grimshaw, Isaac N. Morris, and James W. Singleton and soon-to-be
Quincyan Stephen A. Douglas were elected to the state legislature in the 1830s
and 1840s and became friends and political allies or opponents of Lincoln.
Andrew Johnston, assistant clerk of the Illinois House, was later one of the
first editors of the Quincy Whig. “Friend Johnston” published some of Lincoln’s
poetry.

“The Lincoln Log: A Daily Chronology of the Life of Abraham
Lincoln” reveals a regular flow of communication between Lincoln and Quincyans
– about shared law cases, politics, political appointments, and personal
friendships. Many were close relationships as demonstrated by confidential
letters to Eliza Browning and Lincoln’s reference to Jonas as “one of my most
valued friends.” At times the historical importance is evident. Henry Asbury, a
frequent correspondent with Lincoln, framed four questions which Lincoln put to
Douglas during the 1858 Freeport debate.

“The Lincoln Log” also indicates that Lincoln visited Quincy
more often than many realize, traveling to Quincy on the way to and from St.
Joseph, Mo., and Council Bluffs, Iowa, twice in 1859 and again in 1859 on the
way home from railroad business in Hannibal, Mo. There are also unsubstantiated
stories about Lincoln visits to Quincy and Adams County, and one can only
speculate about his trips here before he was in the public eye.

Lincoln’s first documented visit to Quincy occurred in 1854
when he spoke on behalf of his Quincy friend “Archie” Williams, “Free Soil”
candidate for Congress. Lincoln had withdrawn from politics, but the passage of
the Kansas-Nebraska Act opened to slavery an area that had been guaranteed free
for 34 years and brought Lincoln out of retirement. Lincoln attacked the new
law and Stephen A. Douglas during his speech in Quincy’s Kendall Hall. Soon
local politicians were working with Lincoln to found the new Republican Party.
Most Whigs and some Democrats became Republicans from 1854-1856.

The Oct. 13, 1858, Lincoln-Douglas Debate was probably the
most significant national event ever to occur in Quincy. Held downtown in
Washington Park, it was witnessed by thousands of spectators from Illinois,
Iowa, and Missouri and lasted three hours. Lincoln took his strongest stand,
yet, against slavery and argued that “it is a moral, a social, and a political
wrong …” while Douglas stated that slavery was not a moral issue and reasoned
that states “… can exist forever divided into free and slave states …”
The Lincoln-Douglas Debates resulted in the reelection of Douglas as
senator but catapulted Lincoln into national attention and led to his election
as president.

In December, local Republican leaders met with
Horace Greeley, anti-slavery editor of the New York Tribune, in
the Quincy law office of Asbury and Jonas. Asbury
suggested Lincoln for the presidency, one of the earliest to do
so. Soon Quincyans took important roles in helping
Lincoln win nomination. Grimshaw, a member of the Republican State Committee,
helped to secure Lincoln’s consent to be Illinois’ favorite son candidate at
the national convention. Jonas worked the convention floor and helped pack the
hall with Lincoln supporters, whose additional enthusiasm led to Lincoln’s
nomination. Browning was chosen to give the convention speech thanking the
delegates, and he also worked behind the scenes after the nomination to unify
the party behind Lincoln.

During the 1860 presidential campaign, Gov. Wood invited
Lincoln to use the governor’s office in the State House, and Lincoln made it
his campaign headquarters. Lincoln’s Quincy friends campaigned for him and
supported him all the way to the White House. President-elect Lincoln discussed
the secession crisis freely with Browning but few others. Browning and Grimshaw
rode on the inaugural train with Lincoln as far as Indianapolis. Lincoln asked
Browning to review his inaugural address and took Browning’s advice to soften
its tone.

President Lincoln named many Quincyans to government and
military positions, using their talents to help his administration and the
Union. Browning visited the White House frequently and promoted those local
appointments. While other Quincyans were regular visitors, the Brownings were
more like family. Orville helped make the funeral arrangements, and he and his
wife “received for the family” when Lincoln’s son, Willie, died in 1862. Eliza
stayed two weeks at the White House to help deal with the personal grief and
Tad’s care.

On April 14, 1865, Abraham Lincoln was shot at Ford’s
Theater and was carried across the street to the Peterson House, where he died.
Col. George V. Rutherford of Quincy guarded Lincoln’s body, placed coins on his
eyes, and escorted the body to the White House. Browning was the only
non-medical civilian present for the autopsy. He helped plan Lincoln’s funeral
and served as a pall bearer at Mrs. Lincoln’s request.

When the telegraphed news of Lincoln’s death arrived, Wood
and three others rushed to the Congregational Church to ring the historic bell
that had once hung in the Lord’s Barn. Soon the community turned from shock to
mourning. City council rooms and Quincy streets were draped in black, citizens
wore crepe, saloons and many businesses closed, churches had special services,
and Wood presided over a mass meeting on Washington Square. Many Quincyans
attended Lincoln’s funeral in Springfield, requiring an “extra train with 19
full cars.”

Wood and Grimshaw soon led the widely supported Adams County
drive to fund the Lincoln Memorial in Springfield. The later acquisition of the
assassination artifacts now on display in the Historical Society’s Lincoln
Gallery was made possible by Lincoln’s close associations with Quincyans like
Asbury and Browning.

Readers interested in learning more about Lincoln’s ties to
Quincy can find additional information in the “Quincy in the Lincoln Era”
exhibit in the Lincoln Gallery, in Quincy’s 18 Looking for Lincoln Wayside
Exhibits and at the Lincoln-Douglas Debate Interpretive Center. “The Lincoln
Heritage Trail” brochure includes a map and list of the LFL wayside exhibits
and Quincy’s Lincoln sites and is available at the Historical Society and the
Interpretive Center.

Chuck Radel is retired from the Quincy Public Schools and
taught history for 20 years. He is a local historian, president of the
Historical Society, and a member of the Lincoln-Douglas Debate Interpretive
Center Advisory Board.

Sources

“Accession
Record of the Historical Society of Quincy and Adams County, Illinois.”
Accession No. C389 a-d, undated.

Costigan,
David, “A City in Wartime: Quincy, Illinois and the Civil War.” PhD
dissertation, Illinois State University, 1994.

Looking
for Lincoln Wayside Exhibits in Quincy. 18 storyboards. Springfield: Looking
for Lincoln Heritage Coalition, 2009.

Papers of
Abraham Lincoln. “The Lincoln Log: A Daily Chronology of the Life of
Abraham Lincoln.”

.

Pease,
Theodore Calvin; and James G. Randall (eds.) (1925-1913). The Diary of Orville
H. Browning, 1850-1881 (2 vols. ed.). Springfield, Ill.: Illinois State
Historical Society. The diary is also available online at

.

Quincy
Daily Herald. Passim.

Quincy
Herald-Whig, February 12, 1950.

Quincy
Daily Whig. Passim.

Quincy
Daily Whig and Republican. Passim.

Quincy
Whig. Passim.

“Quincy:
The Lincoln Era; Politics and the Lincoln Presidency.” Exhibit in the
Lincoln Gallery, Historical Society of Quincy and Adams County, 2010.

Whitney,
Ellen. M., comp and ed. Collections of the Illinois State Historical Library,
Vol. XXXVI; or, The Black Hawk War 1831-1832; Vol. II, Letters and Papers; Part
I, April 30, 1831-June 23, 1832. Springfield: Trustees of the Illinois State
Historical Library, 1973. (1297-1298)