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97 Desk upon which President Lincoln wrote

100

his first Inaugural...

Lincoln & Herndon's Office in the Tha
Building from the Corner. (From a pho-
tograph taken by the author in October,
1890)....

Mrs. Lincoln, 1861. (From a photograph

in possession of the author)..
William D. Kelley...

Fac-simile of Lincoln's Letter to Grace
Bedell..

121

Buchanan's Cabinet.
123 The Chapman House, Charleston, Ill. (From
a photograph taken by the author in Oc-
tober, 1890)...

124

126

Jefferson Davis..

Railroad Station, Springfield.

144 Montgomery Blair...

146 Henry Wilson...
149 Gideon Welles..

PAGE

336

War Meeting in Washington..
Charles F. Browne (" Artemus Ward").... 343
President Lincoln at McClellan's Head-

quarters.....

Ambrose E. Burnside...

Charles Sumner...

Henry J. Raymond...
Joseph Hooker..
Benjamin F. Wade.
Owen Lovejoy.

John Brough..
Edward Everett..
Gettysburg Monument.

Thaddeus Stevens...

347
352

357 R. M. T. Hunter

360 General Grant's Headquarters...

364 Key of the Richmond Slave Prison. (In pos368 session of the author)..

President Lincoln and Cabinet Receiving the
Cannon Captured by Sheridan....

Passage of the Amendment to the Constitu-
tion Prohibiting Slavery.

Alexander H. Stephens...

371 Military Railroad, City Point..

384 Parke Station ...

387 President Lincoln in Richmond..

389 Confederate Presidential Mansion..

Zachariah Chandler
Reuben E. Fenton..
Horatio Seymour...
George H. Pendleton .

443

Philip Sheridan...

447

David R. Locke ("Petroleum V. Nasby").. 451

Soldiers Voting.

459

Oliver P. Morton..

462

433

440

PAGE

498

499

502 . 507 510

393 General Grant Receiving His Commission.. 397 Sunday Afternoon..

House in which Abraham Lincoln Died.... 516 John Wilkes Booth. (From a photograph taken in 1864).......

407

Andrew Johnson..

414

Mrs. Surratt's House. (From a photograph taken in 1865)....

417

Clement L. Vallandigham.
William P. Fessenden.

419 Diagram of the Box Occupied by President
Lincoln......

422

465

474

479

481

492

519

522

524

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LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

CHAPTER I.

ANCESTRY.

FAR

AR back in the centuries the river Witham, which winds through the lowlands of eastern England, was known as the Lindis. The town which the Romans built on the bank of the stream received the name of Lindum. When the Normans made themselves masters of England they built a castle on the top of the hill that overlooks the town and changed the name to Lincoln. (') In the course of years it became the name of a family. Possibly there were several families bearing the name in Norfolk and Lincoln counties. We know

1625.

1620. that one such family had its home in Hingham, and that Samuel Lincoln was an infant on that day when the Pilgrims, in December, 1620, established a government of the people in America. We also know that there was an older brother, Thomas; but it is not certain that we shall ever learn much about their parents. It seems probable that they were obliged to work hard to obtain a living for themselves and their children. We may conclude that their home was a cottage thatched with straw. We may think of the brothers as playing in the streets, or going into the green fields and gathering daisies, listening to the larks and nightingales. They could look across the meadows and see the tall spire of Norwich Cathedral, and in the hush and stillness hear the great bell sending forth its music.

Quite likely they heard their parents say that King James had died, and that his son, Charles I., was King. Then the talk was about troublesome times. The King maintained that he was ordained by God to rule the nation, and that it was the duty of the people to obey. The bishop preached that the King could do no wrong.

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Charles wanted money, and levied taxes without consulting Parliament. The Puritans who would not pay, together with those who would not accept the ritual prepared by the bishop, were arrested-so many that the jail and the Guildhall in Norwich were filled. When the officers undertook to collect the tax in Lincoln the people pelted them with

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