Carl Sandburg and Lincoln

[Rob Wick]

Bill,

Sandburg was Swedish. His father, August, came over to America in 1869 while his mother, Clara, arrived in 1873. They were married on August 7, 1874 and Carl made his appearance on January 9, 1878. Galesburg was home to a large Swedish community and, at one point, even had a Swedish-language newspaper.

Sandburg said his interest in Lincoln and the Civil War came from his conversations with people who had known Lincoln when he and Douglas came there in 1858 for the debate. He also knew veterans of the Civil War era. Sandburg was in the audience when Robert Todd Lincoln spoke in Galesburg about his father, one of the few times he ever spoke in public about him. Sandburg told James G. Randall that he wanted to write the biography because he wished he had something like that to read when Sandburg was delivering milk. Sandburg walked past Knox College on his way to work and often read the plaque attached to the front of the building which marked the debate site. Interestingly, Knox College's building is the only extant debate site.

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Rob