Genetic Lincoln

[Steve]

(08-30-2018 11:39 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  

(08-30-2018 10:44 AM)Gene C Wrote:  This is new to me

From the above mentioned website link
"Interestingly, there are accounts of a young Abraham Lincoln seeing the meteor storm after he was rousted from his bed in New Salem, Illinois by a church deacon proclaiming the end of the world."

Gene, I do not know John F. Kennedy's source, but in a speech in St Louis on October 2, 1960, he said:

"There will be crises, both within and without. But it is, I think, our intention to bear in mind the words of Lincoln during the darkest days of the Civil War. Many were fearful of the outcome and many were concerned about our survival, and when a delegation called on the President to express its fears, Lincoln told them of an experience of his youth. "One night in November," he said, "a shower of meteors fell from the clear night sky. A friend standing by was frightened. But I looked up and between the falling stars I saw the fixed stars beyond, shining serene in the firmament, and I said, 'Let us not mind the meteors, let us keep our eyes on the stars.' "

(The story is in Lincoln Talks by Emanuel Hertz, and Hertz noted his source as Francis Carpenter. However, I checked Carpenter's book, which is listed in Hertz' bibliography, and cannot find the story. Maybe JFK was using Hertz' book, or it is in Carpenter's book, and I cannot find it.)

JFK (or his speechwriter) got the quote wrong. The story comes from an 1874 book by Maunsell B. Field, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury from 1863 -1865:

https://books.google.com/books?id=qDUQAA...&q&f=false

Excerpts from Field's book, including the story, were first published in the 28 Dec. 1873 Chicago Tribune. According to Field, Lincoln told the story to a group of bankers during the war.