Abraham Lincoln and China

[Karen S. Campbell]

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

Dear Tom,
Sadly there are so many things about "Anna and the Kings of Siam" and the "King and I" that aren't true. But, the book/movies have created an iconic unrequited-love story. It all goes back to Anna Leonowens herself who did everything in the world in her books and during her life to disguise the fact that she was Euroasian. King Mongkut was around 60 years old when she worked in Siam. Even so, I still love the "King and I" and I wept through "Anna and the King" with Jodie Foster and Chow Yun-Fat!