The Life of Abraham Lincoln

The Life of Abraham Lincoln, by
Henry Ketcham

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Title: The Life of Abraham Lincoln
Author: Henry Ketcham
Release Date: November, 2004 [EBook #6811] [Yes, we are more than

one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on January 27,
2003]
Edition: 10
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LIFE
OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN ***

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THE LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN BY HENRY KETCHAM
TO MY TWO OLDER BROTHERS, JOHN LEWIS KETCHAM,
AND WILLIAM ALEXANDER KETCHAM, WHO UNDER
ABRAHAM LINCOLN AS COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF LOYALLY
SERVED THEIR COUNTRY IN THE WAR FOR THE
PERPETUATION OF THE UNION AND THE DESTRUCTION OP
SLAVERY, THIS BOOK IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED.

CONTENTS.
I. The Wild West II. The Lincoln Family III. Early Years IV. In Indiana
V. Second Journey to New Orleans VI. Desultory Employments VII.
Entering Politics VIII. Entering the Law IX. On the Circuit X. Social
Life and Marriage XI. The Encroachments of Slavery XII. The
Awakening of the Lion XIII. Two Things that Lincoln Missed XIV.
Birth of the Republican Party XV. The Battle of the Giants XVI.
Growing Audacity of the Slave Power XVII. The Backwoodsman at the

Center of Eastern Culture XVIII. The Nomination of 1860 XIX. The
Election XX. Four Long Months XXI. Journey to Washington XXII.
The Inauguration XXIII. Lincoln his Own President XXIV. Fort
Sumter XXV. The Outburst of Patriotism XXVI. The War Here to Stay
XXVII. The Darkest Hour of the War XXVIII. Lincoln and Fremont
XXIX. Lincoln and McClellan XXX. Lincoln and Greeley XXXI.
Emancipation XXXII. Discouragements XXXIII. New Hopes XXXIV.
Lincoln and Grant XXXV. Literary Characteristics XXXVI. Second
Election XXXVII. Close of the War XXXVIII. Assassination XXXIX.
A Nation's Sorrow XL. The Measure of a Man XLI. Testimonies

PREFACE.
The question will naturally be raised, Why should there be another Life
of Lincoln? This may be met by a counter question, Will there ever be a
time in the near future when there will not be another Life of Lincoln?
There is always a new class of students and a new enrolment of citizens.
Every year many thousands of young people pass from the Grammar to
the High School grade of our public schools. Other thousands are
growing up into manhood and womanhood. These are of a different
constituency from their fathers and grandfathers who remember the
civil war and were perhaps in it.
"To the younger generation," writes Carl Schurz, "Abraham Lincoln
has already become a half mythical figure, which, in the haze of
historic distance, grows to more and more heroic proportions, but also
loses in distinctness of outline and figure." The last clause of this
remark is painfully true. To the majority of people now living, his
outline and figure are dim and vague. There are to-day professors and
presidents of colleges, legislators of prominence, lawyers and judges,
literary men, and successful business men, to whom Lincoln is a
tradition. It cannot be expected that a person born after the year (say)
1855, could remember Lincoln more than as a name. Such an one's
ideas are made up not from his remembrance and appreciation of events
as they occurred, but from what he has read and heard about them in
subsequent years.

The great mine of information concerning the facts of Lincoln's life is,
and probably will always be, the History by his secretaries, Nicolay and
Hay. This is worthily supplemented by the splendid volumes of Miss
Tarbell. There are other biographies of great value. Special mention
should be made of the essay by Carl Schurz, which is classic.
The author has consulted freely all the books on the subject he could
lay his hands on. In this volume there is no attempt to write a history of
the