Site of Ferry Landing IN547
SITE OF FERRY LANDING
FROM THIS PLACE IN THE YEAR 1830
ABRAHAM LINCOLN CROSSED THE
WABASH RIVER TO ILLINOIS

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Wabash River Bridge IN546

* * * From earliest times the Wabash River was a route between North and South * * Here at a fording place it was crossed by a buffalo trace an ancient path worn by countless animals and aborigines in their migrations between East and West * Near this meeting of ancient ways moundbuilders left vestiges of a remote past and forgotten races * Here in historic times Indians dwelt and traveled both land and water routes French and missionaries followed * Early in the Eighteenth Century was established Vincennes the oldest settlement in this region * * *

* * *From France England won this region * * In the War of the Revolution the British Commander in the Northwest came down the Wabash making Fort Sackville at this crossing of ways the key to the frontier * * George Rogers Clark with his troops followed the buffalo trace from Kaskaskia toward Vincennes and captured Fort Sackville * * By this route came William Henry Harrison first Governor of Indiana and Louisiana Territories * Pioneers came seeking new homes in Illinois and beyond the Mississippi * * Here the youth Abraham Lincoln making his last pioneer move crossed the Wabash into Illinois * * *

* * * The Wabash River dividing the States of Indiana and Illinois was spanned after the Civil War by a bridge of timbers with an iron draw midstream * In 1931 the two states erected this bridge of concrete * It overlooks the scene of the victory which crowned the heroic march of Clark's little army from Kaskaskia * * Forming a link in the central continental highway which replaces buffalo traces Indian trails and dangerous fordings this structure commemorates the opening of the West and the expansion of our Country from ocean to ocean * * *

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Lincoln in Lawrenceville IL461
LINCOLN IN LAWRENCEVILLE

In 1840 Abraham Lincoln, as a Wig elector, campaigned in Southern Illinois for William Henry Harrison Whig Presidential candidate here in Lawrenceville, October 28. He had a dispute with a local physician William G. Anderson, who the previous August had run as a Democrat and lost the election for State Representative. In writing to Lincoln on October 30, Dr. Anderson said that Lincoln was the "aggressor" in the dispute that his words imported insult. Lincoln denied the charge, saying that he regretted the incident.

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Ellis Mansion IN542
ELLIS MANSION
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Abner Turner Ellis, a Borough President, Probate Judge, and State Senator, promoted the charter of Ohio & Miss. R.R. (later a part of B&O)and was its first president. His stately home was built by John Moore about 1838. Abraham Lincoln visited this home during Henry Clay's campaign in 1844.

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Lincoln Trail State Monument IL445
IN THE LATE WINTER OF 1830 A FEW WEEKS AFTER HIS 21st BIRTHDAY
ABRAHAM LINCOLN PASSED THIS WAY WITH HIS FATHER'S FAMILY
ENTERING THE STATE OF ILLINOIS FOR THE FIRST TIME.

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Lincoln and Douglas in Olney IL436
LINCOLN AND DOUGLAS IN OLNEY

During the presidential campaign of 1856 Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas spoke in Olney at separate political rallies held the same day - Saturday, September 20. In the morning Douglas spoke in a grove near town at a Democratic rally for Buchanan and Breckinridge. In the afternoon Lincoln spoke at the courthouse at a Republican rally for Fremont and Dayton. The Republican speakers - Lincoln, Senator Lyman Trumbull, and Ebenezer Peck of Chicago - also attended the Democratic rally. On the previous day they had challenged the Democrats to a debate, but the Democrats were confident of victory and did not accept.

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Abraham Lincoln KS145
ABRAHAM LINCOLN

On his only visit to Kansas, he spoke in Troy, December 1, 1859, at the Court House located about 100 feet west of this site. It was reported that the Troy speech was a trail run of his Cooper Union speech in New York which propelled him to the Republican Presidential nomination in 1860.

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Abraham Lincoln Monument MO442
Civil War Veterans Memorial

WITH MALICE TOWARDS NONE
AND CHARITY FOR ALL.

IN MEMORY OF THE SOLDIERS OF
1861 AND 1865.

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Andrew Johnson 1A20
About 1 mile southwest, at the home of a daughter, Mary Johnson Stover, Andrew Johnson died in 1875. He had been a senator from Tennessee, governor of Tennessee, military governor under Federal occupation, vice president of the United States and 17th President, succeeding Abraham Lincoln.

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Looking For Lincoln IL421
LOOKING FOR LINCOLN

Pigs rooting around the old courthouse may have reminded Lincoln of a pet pig he had kept as a boy in Kentucky. They enjoyed playing hide-and-seek. "I can see his little face now, peeking around the corner of the house to see whether I was coming after him," he once reminisced. It was traumatic for young Lincoln when his pig was finally slaughtered to feed the family. "[T]o this day, whenever I see a [little pig]...it all comes back to me," he related.

THE LAST STOP

"I had pleasant accommodations at Taylorville
in company with Mr. Lincoln
& Mr. Thompson," Circuit Judge.

David Davis once wrote from here. He found this town--the last county seat on his circuit route--to be "prettily laid out, & tastefully arranged with trees & shrubs." But pigs rummaged underneath the floor boards of the courthouse sometimes disrupted the Judge's courtroom. Once, it was so noisy that attorney Abraham Lincoln reportedly rose to his feet to demand a "writ of quietus" to abate the hog nuisance. Pigs seemed to be a theme for Lincoln here in Taylorville. In 1842 he represented James Masterson, whose herd of four hundred pigs escaped when a careless boy allowed the cows he was herding to break down a holding pen fence. Masterson lost seventy pigs worth a total of $350. Lincoln sued the negligent boy's father on behalf of Masterson. Lincoln lost. A jury (whose members probably had unpredictable children of their own) ruled that the boy's father was not liable for his son's negligence.

FOR OVER A DECADE Lincoln attended court here in Taylorville, usually twice a year -- in June and November. Dane County (later named Christian County) became part of Illinois' Eighth Judicial Circuit in 1839. A two-story wood frame courthouse was erected here on the public square in 1840. It sat on twelve stone pillars that elevated the floor eighteen inches above the ground (permitting pigs to get underneath). A local resident recollected hearing Lincoln "tell many a story on the wood pile on the north side of the court house of an evening after court had adjourned." In 1853 Christian County became part of the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, and Lincoln ceased his semiannual visits. In 1854 officials removed the old frame courthouse, though it was preserved and may still be visited today.

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