Abraham Lincoln and China

[Thomas Thorne]

Lincoln's most famous Oriental story is alas untrue. King Mongkut of Siam sent letters to President Buchanan offering to ship elephants to America for heavy lifting and transportation. The King's last letter on the subject was replied to by President Lincoln who pointed out that elephants were ill suited to the United States.
In "The King and I " King Mongkut's letter was altered to suggest that he wrote to Lincoln and offered to send war elephants to crush the rebellion. It would have been a wonderful sight to see Union war elephants unleashed to stop Pickett's charge.
I found the actual text of the Mongkut-Lincoln letters on the June 2011 newsletter of HistoryBuff.com.
Tom