Where Is It?

[Rogerm]

Liberia?

[Gene C]

If not Liberia, Japan is my 2nd choice.

[Anita]

Brazil?

[RJNorton]

All are good guesses, but I am afraid none are correct.

(I am not sure if "none" should use the singular verb "is," but I used "are" because I was referring to multiple guesses. I hope that is correct grammar.)

[Anita]

My old standby- Mexico?

[RJNorton]

Yes, Anita! Very good.

Once again I used the most recent Lincoln Herald for this information. The total number of schools in Mexico that are named for Lincoln is not given.

[Anita]

Gracias Roger!

As for the grammar question, yes you used it correctly. I looked it up! Use a plural verb with none when what it is referring back to is more than one of whatever is indicated.

[David Lockmiller]

(03-02-2021 04:13 PM)RJNorton Wrote:  Yes, Anita! Very good.

Once again I used the most recent Lincoln Herald for this information. The total number of schools in Mexico that are named for Lincoln is not given.

Statues of Lincoln are found in parks throughout Mexico–particularly in major cities such as Tijuana, Juarez, Guadalajara, and Mexico City –and many schools are named after him. The reason he is honored in Mexico as perhaps the most respected US president is that he opposed the Mexican-American War as a Congressman, and supported Mexico’s fight against European occupation forces in the 1860's as President. And in the United States, statues of Mexican president Benito Juarez are in some cities, including San Diego. The two presidents shared a mutual goal of making Mexico and the USA good neighbors.

The book Abraham Lincoln and Mexico, by Michael Hogan, examines his legacy and identifies many of the sites honoring Lincoln throughout the country.

Source: "Lincoln and Mexico Project" website -- An international project to inform and educate people about Abraham Lincoln's support for Mexico.

[RJNorton]

One time Abraham Lincoln's coachman drove him to a certain location. When the president came out, he found that the coachman was too drunk to drive him back to the White House. Another person had to drive Lincoln back to the Executive Mansion.

Where was President Lincoln when he came out and found his coachman passed out with the reins in his hands?

[David Lockmiller]

(03-28-2023 03:54 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  One time Abraham Lincoln's coachman drove him to a certain location. When the president came out, he found that the coachman was too drunk to drive him back to the White House. Another person had to drive Lincoln back to the Executive Mansion.

Where was President Lincoln when he came out and found his coachman passed out with the reins in his hands?

President Lincoln was at the theater. I believe that it was Ford's Theater, but I am not sure.

[RJNorton]

You are on the right track, David, but it wasn't Ford's Theatre.

[Anita]

I too thought it was Ford's so was it Grover's Theater?

[RJNorton]

Excellent, Anita!

Leonard Grover himself drove the president back to the White House. The drunk driver, Francis Burke, was the same driver who drove the Lincolns to Ford's on April 14, 1865.

[David Lockmiller]

RJNorton made the following post on March 19, 2013 at 5:16 AM (just over a decade ago):

Joe, you are correct. Leonard Grover himself drove the president back to the White House. The drunk driver, Francis Burke, was the same driver who drove the Lincolns to Ford's on April 14, 1865.

Joe, you win one original glass of lemonade made by Lemonade Lucy.

I had seen this story before but was most recently reminded of it when reading the new book by Jim Garrett and Rich Smyth. The authors write that Burke lies in an unmarked grave not far from the Surratts.

I did not find any reference to this story in Professor Burlingame's Abraham Lincoln: A Life, Volume Two.

But isn't it amazing how forgiving President Abraham Lincoln was?

[RJNorton]

David, many historians don't trust the stories of Leonard Grover so I am not surprised that Prof. Burlingame did not include this one. My personal thinking on Grover is that he will start with a truth and then embellish some of the details in an attempt to make things more interesting for the reader.

The story comes from:

Leonard Grover, "Lincoln's Interest in the Theater," Century Magazine, (April 1909).

"It transpired that during the time the President's party was within the theater, the coachman, an Irishman under thirty years, instead of returning to the White House stables had accepted an invitation to take a drink in one of the numerous saloons, leaving the carriage in the charge of a drummer boy, who, after losing an arm in the service, had found employment with the President. One drink led to many, and after nearly three hours, the coachman was as full as he could hold of bad liquor.

In ignorance of the coachman's condition, I opened the carriage door, handed in Mrs. Lincoln, Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Colfax following. As I closed the door of the carriage, there was a second jeering outburst. I turned to learn the cause. The one-armed drummer boy was on the box holding the lines in his single hand, while the coachman, having slipped from the wheel in his effort to mount to his seat, had fallen on the pavement. The coachman slowly regained his feet, staggered slightly, and then with a supreme effort, clambered over the wheel, landed on the box, seized the reins from the hand of the drummer-boy, and turning to take his seat fell sprawlingly his full length on the walk.

The jeering shout which followed had a threatening tone. Any overt act, the throwing of a stone, might have resulted in catastrophe. Twisting the reins from the fallen coachman's hand, I sprang to the box and started the team in quick time. At the head of the triangle, I pulled up and asked the President where he would like me to drive. He asked me, if I wouldn't mind, to take Mr. Colfax home. So to Mr. Colfax's house we went, somewhere off to the north of the Capitol; then we returned by way of F street to the White House. When we arrived there, I handed the carriage over to the attendants. As we stood under the White House portico, Mr. Lincoln grasped one of my hands and Mrs. Lincoln the other. Mr. Lincoln said, ''Mr. Grover, you have done me a very great service to-night, and one that I shall never forget. I have this to say to you; if at any time you want anything and it is in my power to grant it, you have only to ask and it shall be done." Mrs. Lincoln tugged at my other hand and said, "Remember, Mr. Grover—what Mr. Lincoln says he means."