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| 1861 photo of Abraham Lincoln |
(For decades, local historian and paranormal investigator
George “Buster” Singleton published a weekly newspaper column called “Somewhere
in Time.” The column below, which was titled “Some little known facts about
President Abraham Lincoln” was originally published in the Feb. 5, 1998 edition
of The Monroe Journal in Monroeville, Ala.)
I don’t believe that there is a person alive who knows
anything about our past history that doesn’t have a special time or period that
they like to study and think about. As for myself, I can sit all day and read
and study the dreadful times of the Civil War. As I have stated many times in
my writings, both sides of my family were directly involved in this bloody time
in our history; this probably is one of the major reasons why I have read and
studied everything I come across about his bloody and awesome time in the
history of our country.
Regardless of the many lives that were lost on both sides,
and the blood that was shed, many happenings and events of this period happened
in strange surroundings and when studied and discussed tend to be on the funny
side. The horrors of war are never funny, but some of the characters that were
involved in some of the events sometimes touches the funny bone.
Much has been said and much more has been written about
President Abraham Lincoln and the part he played in the dreaded Civil War. If
one studies and researches history, this man played a major part in this war
that divided our country for a number of years. Some of the decisions that this
man made during his time in the White House affects us even today. But, even
though he was a great man, much fun was passed from one to another of the
people that knew him. I mean no disrespect, but I would like to mention a few
events of the lighter side.
Photographs of President Lincoln were few and far between
before 1860. But, as he became more and more in the eyes of the public,
everyone from school children to the Union soldier drew pictures of him and the
way he looked. Never was he seen when his clothing was neat and matched as it
should have been. A lot of people were awed by his huge hands and feet and his
extremely long arms and legs. One lady who knew him said this: “His skin was
shriveled and yellow. His shoes, when he had any, were low. He wore buckskin
breeches, a linsey-woolsey shirt and a cap made from the skin of squirrel or
coon. His breeches were baggy, and lacked by several inches meeting the tops of
his shoes, thereby exposing his shinbone, sharp, blue and narrow.”
Another friend that knew Lincoln said that his trousers were
always about five inches too short. Though a vest or a coat was customary, he
never wore one and frequently wore only one suspender. “He wore a calico shirt,
tan brogans, blue yarn socks and an old straw hat.”
D.H. Wilder, who knew Lincoln before he was president, said this:
“He had legs that you could fold up; his knees stood out like the high hind
joint of a Kansas grasshopper. Most of his buttons were always missing off his
shirt. He was very tall, gawky and rough looking; his pantaloons didn’t meet
his shoes by at least six inches.”
Emilie Todd, the younger sister of Mary Todd Lincoln, the
president’s wife, had this to say about her brother-in-law: “When I first saw
him, I kept thinking of ‘Jack and the Bean Stalk,’ and I feared he might be the
hungry giant of the story – he was so tall and looked so big with a long-full
black cloak over his shoulders. He wore a fur cap with ear straps which allowed
but little of his face to be seen. Expecting to hear “Fe, fi, fo, fum,’ I ran
and hid behind my mother’s skirts.”
A British journalist after first seeing Lincoln had this to
say about him: “To say that he was ugly is nothing; add that his figure is grotesque
is to convey no adequate impression. Fancy a man about six feet high, and thin
in proportion, with long, bony arms and legs, which somehow seem always to be
in the way; with great rugged furrowed hands, which grasps you like a vice when
shaking yours; with a long scraggy neck and a chest too narrow for the great
arms at his side. Add, this to figure a head, coconut shaped and somewhat too
small for such a stature, covered with rough, uncombed hair, that stands out in
every direction at once; a face furrowed and wrinkled, and indented as though
it had been scarred by vitriol. A high narrow forehead, sunk beneath bushy
eyebrows; somewhat dreamy eyes, that seem to gaze at you without looking at
you. Put this together with a close-set thin lipped, stern mouth, with two rows
of large white teeth, and a nose and ears that seem to have been taken by
mistake from a head twice the size.
“Clothe this figure then in a long, tight, badly fitting
suit of black, creased, soiled and puckered at every salient point, put on
large, ill-fitting boots, gloves too long for the long bony fingers, and a hat
covered to the top with dusty fluffy crepe. And then add to this an air of
strength, physical as well as moral, and then add a strange look of dignity coupled
with grotesqueness, and you will have the impression left upon me by Abraham
Lincoln.”
Lincoln’s seemingly total unconcern about his looks and his
clothing may have stemmed from his early life. On the western frontier where he
grew up, it didn’t matter a hill of beans how a boy or girl, man or woman
dressed.
All accounts indicate that he ignored repeated attempts to
provide for his personal security. This man put everything within his power
into the preservation of the Union. His failure to heed the warnings of his
advisors proved to be his downfall. Perhaps had he survived and had the chance to
finish his term as president, things might have been different, even today.
But, the winds of change blows in many directions; we cannot
understand many of the strange events that await in the distance. History has
proven this time and time again. As we try to look into the future as to what
is to come, all we can do is speculate.
Since the month of February is often referred to by our
historians as “Lincoln Month,” I think that we should give some thought to this
past president during the month of his birth.
(Singleton, the author
of the 1991 book “Of Foxfire and Phantom Soldiers,” passed away at the age of
79 on July 19, 2007. A longtime resident of Monroeville, he was born on Dec.
14, 1927 in Marengo County, graduated from Sweet Water High School, served in
the Korean War, lived for a time among Apache Indians, moved to Monroe County
in June 1964 (some sources say 1961) and served as the administrator of the
Monroeville National Guard unit from 1964 to 1987. For years, Singleton’s
column “Somewhere in Time” appeared in The Monroe Journal, and he wrote a
lengthy series of articles about Monroe County that appeared in Alabama Life
magazine. Some of his earlier columns also appeared under the heading of
“Monroe County History: Did You Know?” He is buried in Pineville Cemetery in
Monroeville. The column above and all of Singleton’s other columns are
available to the public through the microfilm records at the Monroe County
Public Library in Monroeville. Singleton’s columns are presented here each week
for research and scholarship purposes and as part of an effort to keep his work
and memory alive.)
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