Interesting Lincoln Facts

This guy
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j/k
 
We heard that Lincoln was a wrestler and is even in the Wrestling Hall of Fame but did you know that he defended the son of his most famous wrestling opponent from murder charges? Another amazing fact. I hope to have more about this soon.
 
Beyond that, Fido gained some fame of his own in 1865 for attending his former master's funeral - fame that is the origin of the generic name of "Fido" for dogs thereafter, Lincoln having named the dog for a Latin verb that loosely translates to, "to be trustworthy/faithful". This original Fido - though beloved by Lincoln - was adopted in 1861 by the family of Springfield carpenter John Roll (a family friend) when the President-elect felt he couldn't bring his dog along to Washington.

Fido's attendance at the Presidential funeral and the carte de vistes that were sold of his image led to his immediate fame thereafter, but that fame was made permanent when he himself was stabbed to death by a Springfield drunk for whom he was showing concern before the end of that same calendar year (1865) at the age of ten, thus, according to Roll, suffering the same fate as his original human companion - assassination.
Fido, meaning "I am Faithful" in Latin, was a popular dog's name in ancient Rome.
 
Here is a sad Lincoln fact, his dog Fido was killed by a drunken assailant a year after he died. :frown:
 
Lincoln established Thanksgiving as a national holiday. He was the first president born outside of the 13 original states. He was the first president with a beard. Lincoln’s mother was killed by poisoned milk. Lincoln’s life was saved twice when he was young. Lincoln was shot on Good Friday.
 
During a March 1865 meeting at City Point, General Grant jokingly told Lincoln of a subordinate officer's ill- conceived bit of advice given to him in breaking the siege at Petersburg. It was suggested that bayonets be issued to the Federal troops that were a foot longer than those used by the Confederate forces thus allowing the Federal troops to charge the defenders and bayoneting them clean through without being touched by the steel of the Confederates. Lincoln laughed and replied "Well, there is a good deal of terror in cold steel " and it reminded the President of being robbed years before while in Louisville:

"I had a chance to test it once myself. When I was a young man, I was walking along a back street in Louisville one night about twelve o’clock, when a very tough-looking citizen sprang out of an alleyway, reached up to the back of his neck, pulled out a bowie-knife that seemed to my stimulated imagination about three feet long, and planted himself square across my path. For two or three minutes he flourished his weapon in front of my face, appearing to try to see just how near he could come to cutting my nose off without quite doing it. He could see in the moonlight that I was taking a good deal of interest in the proceeding, and finally he yelled out, as he steadied the knife close to my throat: ‘Stranger, kin you lend me five dollars on that?’ I never reached in my pocket and got out money so fast in all my life. I handed him a bank-note, and said: ‘There’s ten, neighbor; now put up your scythe.’”

Source - Burlingame's Abraham Lincoln: A Life
 
His law district circuit was large. I used to live about in the middle of it. He stayed outside my home town, and we people in the town my family knew. He might have actually represented some of our family members.
 
In February 1864 the White House stables took fire. Lincoln, seeing the flames from his second story window, popped out the front door and took off at a lope for the stables, hopping tall hedges easily on the way! The guy assigned to guard him was at a dead run, and bringing up the rear. He was frantic about the horses, one of which belonged to his dead son, and by the time his body guards caught up to him he was breaking open the stable lock himself. The first guard claimed he had short legs but the president out-ran and out-jumped a bunch of guys half his age!
 
Thought this was a cute tidbit...

Grace Bedell, an 11-year-old Westfield, New York girl wrote to suggest that he (Lincoln) grow a a beard to improve his Presidential prospects. Lincoln didn't make any promises, but he wore a full beard as President-elect when he stopped in Westfield on February 16, 1861, and met his young correspondent.

(I remembered this from documentary, The Last Days of the Civil War -- History Channel - biography on Abraham Lincoln)
Full letter and correspondence found here: http://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/speeches/gracebedell.htm
 
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