I recently saw a brief mention online that young Mr. Lincoln was attacked by a group of black men intent on robbing him and his riverboat companion on one of their treks down river. Is this true?

The article seemed to imply that this attack played a role in Lincoln's early statements about racial inequality. Comments?

(08-14-2017 07:06 PM)L Verge Wrote:  I recently saw a brief mention online that young Mr. Lincoln was attacked by a group of black men intent on robbing him and his riverboat companion on one of their treks down river. Is this true?

The article seemed to imply that this attack played a role in Lincoln's early statements about racial inequality. Comments?

Lincoln wrote about this incident in a June 1860 autobiography:

"When he was nineteen, still residing in Indiana, he made his first trip upon a flatboat to New Orleans. He was a hired hand merely, and he and a son of the owner, without other assistance, made the trip. The nature of part of the "cargo-load," as it was called, made it necessary for them to linger and trade along the sugar-coast; and one night they were attacked by seven negroes with intent to kill and rob them. They were hurt some in the mêlée, but succeeded in driving the negroes from the boat, and then "cut cable," "weighed anchor," and left."

I believe Lincoln did carry a small scar as a result of the scuffle. I think the scar was just above his right eyebrow.

Personally, I do not recall ever reading that this incident had any effect on Lincoln's racial beliefs.

Read Lerone Bennett, Jr., Forced into Glory, where he asserts that he incident did influence Lincoln's ideas on race--pp. 162-65.