1860: Lincoln Visits Five Points.

[Mylye2222]

Aside from his infamous Cooper Union speech in NYC, Lincoln took the time during his stay to visit Five Points, a high criminal rate poor neighborhood in the City. From what I've read ae, it was the US equivalent of White Chapel in London. But by 1960, there were reforms. Street children and youth at risk were taken care of in institutions. Lincoln stopped by one of them, the House of Industry. It was an unplanned visit. He sat in a Sunday School class amid kids, and then the teacher asked a few words from him. According to this link partially copying a period paper piece, Lincoln told them about his own youth in difficulty and instructed them to keep up fighting to inprove their condition and leave their destitute past behind.

https://ephemeralnewyork.wordpress.com/t...ve-points/

[L Verge]

(12-02-2019 01:10 PM)Mylye2222 Wrote:  Aside from his infamous Cooper Union speech in NYC, Lincoln took the time during his stay to visit Five Points, a high criminal rate poor neighborhood in the City. From what I've read ae, it was the US equivalent of White Chapel in London. But by 1960, there were reforms. Street children and youth at risk were taken care of in institutions. Lincoln stopped by one of them, the House of Industry. It was an unplanned visit. He sat in a Sunday School class amid kids, and then the teacher asked a few words from him. According to this link partially copying a period paper piece, Lincoln told them about his own youth in difficulty and instructed them to keep up fighting to inprove their condition and leave their destitute past behind.

https://ephemeralnewyork.wordpress.com/t...ve-points/

Thank you for posting this. I am not a political student of Mr. Lincoln, and I had never read of this visit to Five Points.

[Amy L.]

Isn't it funny -- no one has commented --
Daniel Day Lewis was at Five Points 14 years before Lincoln as 'Bill the Butcher', member of the Know Nothing Party...
Hmmm Did Mr. Lewis run into his Lincoln-self in any other movies?

[David Lockmiller]

Here's a different version of the historical truth:

The newspapers of Springfield informed the people that Mr. Lincoln had addressed the ragamuffins at the Five Points Mission. Those intimate with him were accustomed to calling him "Abe;" in like manner he abbreviated their names.

"Well Abe," one of his neighbors said upon his return, "I see that you have been making a speech to Sunday-school children."

"Yes;" sit down, Jim, and I'll tell you about it. On Sunday morning Washburne said 'Let's go down to the Five Points Mission.' I was much interested in what I saw, Jim. The superintendent, Mr. Pease, came and shook hands with us, and Washburne introduced me to him."

He spoke to the children, and then I was urged to speak. I told him that I did not know anything about talking to Sunday-schools, but Mr. Pease said that many of the children were homeless and friendless, and I thought of the time that I had been pinched by terrible poverty. And so I told them that I had been poor; I remembered when my toes stuck out through my broken shoes, when my arms were out at the elbow, when I shivered with the cold. I told them that there was only one rule -- always to do the very best you can. I told them that I always tried to do the very best I could, and that if they would follow that rule they would get on somehow.

"When I got through, Mr. Pease said it was just the thing they needed. When the school was dismissed all the teachers came up and shook my hand and thanked me for it, although I didn't know that I was saying anything of any account. I never heard anything that touched me as one of the songs they sung. Here is one of their songbooks." Mr. Lincoln took a little hymnal from his pocket and read one of the hymns. As he read his lips became tremulous and tears rolled down his cheeks.(")

Doubtless memory went back once more to the floorless cabin of his birthplace and to the lonely grave of his mother in the Indiana forest -- to the poverty and hardship of his boyhood. Looking into the faces of the poor and friendless children touched his heart as nothing else could have done, and awakened his tenderest sympathies.

Abraham Lincoln, by Charles Carleton Coffin, 1893, New York, Harper & Brothers, pages 179-80.

[David Lockmiller]

Charles Carleton Coffin was a famous Civil War correspondent. And, he was one of the contributors to the book, Reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln, by Distinguished Men of His Time (Chapter VIII). Coffin was in Richmond at the time President Lincoln entered the city and provided the following account (Reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln, pages 180-83):

In the afternoon of the same day I was standing on the bank of the James, when I saw a boat pulled by twelve sailors coming up the river, and a moment later recognized the tall form of the President, with Admiral Porter by his side, Captain Adams of the Navy, Lieutenant Clemens of the Signal Corps, and the President's son Tad.

Near at hand was a lieutenant directing the construction of a bridge across the canal. The men under his charge were Negroes who had been impressed into service, and who were eager to work for their rations.

"Would you like to see the man who made you free?" I said to one of the Negroes.

"Yes, massa."

"There he is, that man with the tall hat."

"Be dat Massa Linkinn?"

"That is President Lincoln."

"Hallelujah! Hurrah, boys, Massa Linkinn's come!"

He swung his old straw hat, clapped his hands and jumped into the air. In an instant the fifty Negroes under the lieutenant were shouting it. They ran towards the landing, yelling and shouting like lunatics. I could hear the cry running up the streets and lanes, "Massa Linkinn -- Massa Linkinn," and the next moment there was a crowd of sable-hued men and women and children with wondering white eyeballs rushing pell-mell towards the landing.

President Lincoln recognized me. "Can you direct us to General Wirtzel's head-quarters?" he asked.

I informed him that I could do so. The boat came alongside the landing. Six marines in blue caps and jackets, armed with carbines, stepped on shore, then the President and little Tad, Admiral Porter and the rest, followed by six more marines. I indicated to Captain Adams the direction, and the procession under his lead began its march up the street toward Capitol Hill, the crowd increasing every moment, the cry of the delighted colored people rising like the voice of many waters.

I recall a Negro woman who was jumping in ecstasy, clapping her hands, and shouting, "Glory! glory! glory!" She could find no other words.

Another had for her refrain, "Bress the Lord! bress the Lord! bress the Lord!"

The tropical exuberance of sentiment characteristic of the African race burst into full flower upon the instant, and no wonder. Abraham Lincoln was their Saviour, their Moses, who had brought them through the Red Sea and the desert to the promised land; their Christ; their Redeemer. We who have always had our liberty, we cool-blooded Anglo-Americans, can have no adequate realization of the ecstasy of that moment on the part of those colored people of Richmond. They were drunk with ecstasy. They leaped into the air, hugged and kissed one another, surged around the little group in a wild delirium of joy.

. . . .

Later in the afternoon I saw President Lincoln riding through the streets, taking a hasty glance at the scene of desolation and woe. There was no smile upon his face. Paler than ever his countenance, deeper than ever before the lines upon his forehead. The driver turned his horses towards the landing. The visit to the capital of the Confederacy was ended.

I never saw him again.

[STS Lincolnite]

(12-02-2019 01:10 PM)Mylye2222 Wrote:  Aside from his infamous Cooper Union speech in NYC, Lincoln took the time during his stay to visit Five Points, a high criminal rate poor neighborhood in the City. From what I've read ae, it was the US equivalent of White Chapel in London. But by 1960, there were reforms. Street children and youth at risk were taken care of in institutions. Lincoln stopped by one of them, the House of Industry. It was an unplanned visit. He sat in a Sunday School class amid kids, and then the teacher asked a few words from him. According to this link partially copying a period paper piece, Lincoln told them about his own youth in difficulty and instructed them to keep up fighting to inprove their condition and leave their destitute past behind.

https://ephemeralnewyork.wordpress.com/t...ve-points/

I was familiar with the story of Lincoln’s visit to the Five Points region of NYC, but the details in this article were different than what I remembered about the visit. Differences include when the visit occurred (I remembered it being after the Cooper Union Address and not the afternoon before) and who was with Lincoln (I didn’t remember it being Washburne, but someone else – couldn’t remember for sure who it was) so I did a little digging.

My recollection of different visit details was substantiated by going to the Lincoln Log (online, it incorporates Lincoln Day-by-Day: A Chronology, with corrections and additions by the Papers of Abraham Lincoln). They have Lincoln’s visit to Five Points occurring on Sunday March 11, 1860 – about 2 weeks after the Cooper Union Address. They also have Lincoln going to Five points with Hiram Barney. Washburne is not mentioned.

http://www.thelincolnlog.org/Results.asp...JjaC5hc3B4

An article titled Hiram Barney and Lincoln: Three Unpublished Documents by Allan Nevins in The Huntington Library Quarterly also mentions Barney taking Lincoln to Five Points.

Lastly, I checked Harold Holzer’s book Lincoln at Cooper Union. He too has the visit to Five Points occurring after the Cooper Union Address (again on March 11, 1860) and Lincoln having made the trip with Hiram Barney (who was a trustee of the Five Points House of Industry) and additionally being joined by Reverend Samuel B. Halliday (one of the founders of the school) - see pages 202-204. In an endnote (pp. 315-316 ), Holzer makes reference to Washburne. He states that Francis Fisher Browne claimed that Washburne was present but that other sources place Washburne elsewhere on March 8 and that there is good reason to doubt that Washburne was present on the March 11 visit.

Food for thought on the details but it seems the various versions agree on the essence of Lincoln’s visit to Five Points. The story of his visit to these underprivileged children is wonderful.

[Mylye2222]

(12-12-2019 08:17 PM)STS Lincolnite Wrote:  

(12-02-2019 01:10 PM)Mylye2222 Wrote:  Aside from his infamous Cooper Union speech in NYC, Lincoln took the time during his stay to visit Five Points, a high criminal rate poor neighborhood in the City. From what I've read ae, it was the US equivalent of White Chapel in London. But by 1960, there were reforms. Street children and youth at risk were taken care of in institutions. Lincoln stopped by one of them, the House of Industry. It was an unplanned visit. He sat in a Sunday School class amid kids, and then the teacher asked a few words from him. According to this link partially copying a period paper piece, Lincoln told them about his own youth in difficulty and instructed them to keep up fighting to inprove their condition and leave their destitute past behind.

https://ephemeralnewyork.wordpress.com/t...ve-points/

I was familiar with the story of Lincoln’s visit to the Five Points region of NYC, but the details in this article were different than what I remembered about the visit. Differences include when the visit occurred (I remembered it being after the Cooper Union Address and not the afternoon before) and who was with Lincoln (I didn’t remember it being Washburne, but someone else – couldn’t remember for sure who it was) so I did a little digging.

My recollection of different visit details was substantiated by going to the Lincoln Log (online, it incorporates Lincoln Day-by-Day: A Chronology, with corrections and additions by the Papers of Abraham Lincoln). They have Lincoln’s visit to Five Points occurring on Sunday March 11, 1860 – about 2 weeks after the Cooper Union Address. They also have Lincoln going to Five points with Hiram Barney. Washburne is not mentioned.

http://www.thelincolnlog.org/Results.asp...JjaC5hc3B4

An article titled Hiram Barney and Lincoln: Three Unpublished Documents by Allan Nevins in The Huntington Library Quarterly also mentions Barney taking Lincoln to Five Points.

Lastly, I checked Harold Holzer’s book Lincoln at Cooper Union. He too has the visit to Five Points occurring after the Cooper Union Address (again on March 11, 1860) and Lincoln having made the trip with Hiram Barney (who was a trustee of the Five Points House of Industry) and additionally being joined by Reverend Samuel B. Halliday (one of the founders of the school) - see pages 202-204. In an endnote (pp. 315-316 ), Holzer makes reference to Washburne. He states that Francis Fisher Browne claimed that Washburne was present but that other sources place Washburne elsewhere on March 8 and that there is good reason to doubt that Washburne was present on the March 11 visit.

Food for thought on the details but it seems the various versions agree on the essence of Lincoln’s visit to Five Points. The story of his visit to these underprivileged children is wonderful.

Thank you for the valuable sources you're providing here. I knew Mary took many shopping trips to NYC while they were in the White House, but I thought previously Lincoln himself only traveled there once, and it was for the Cooper Union speech. So if it's certain this Five Points stop is true, we don't know exactly when it occurred actually. Anyway that doesn't wipe out in anything the wonderful gesture in it.
Had AL the chance to serve his second term full, I'll bet he would have took action regarding youth at risk.

[RJNorton]

Here is the account in Francis B. Carpenter's Six Months at the White House:

When Mr. Lincoln visited New York in 1860, he felt a great interest in many of the institutions for reforming criminals and saving the young from a life of crime. Among others, he visited, unattended, the Five Points' House of Industry, and the Superintendent of the Sabbath-school there gave the following account of the event:

"One Sunday morning, I saw a tall, remarkable-looking man entered the room and took a seat among us. He listened with fixed attention to our exercises, and his countenance expressed such genuine interest that I approached him and suggested that he might be willing to say something to the children. He accepted the invitation with evident pleasure; and, coming forward, began a simple address, which at once fascinated every little hearer and hushed the room into silence. His language was strikingly beautiful, and his tones musical with intense feeling. The little faces would droop into sad conviction as he uttered sentences of warning, and would brighten into sunshine as he spoke cheerful words of promise. Once or twice he attempted to close his remarks, but the imperative shout of 'Go on! Oh, do go on!' would compel him to resume. As I looked upon the gaunt and sinewy frame of the stranger, and marked his powerful head and determined features, now touched into softness by the impressions of the moment, I felt an irrepressible curiosity to learn something more about him, and while he was quietly leaving the room I begged to know his name. He courteously replied, "It is Abraham Lincoln, from Illinois.' Mr. Nelson Sizer, one of the gallery ushers of Henry Ward Beecher's church in Brooklyn, told me that about the time of the Cooper Institute speech, Mr, Lincoln was twice present at the morning services of that church."

[Mylye2222]

(12-13-2019 05:50 PM)RJNorton Wrote:  Here is the account in Francis B. Carpenter's Six Months at the White House:

When Mr. Lincoln visited New York in 1860, he felt a great interest in many of the institutions for reforming criminals and saving the young from a life of crime. Among others, he visited, unattended, the Five Points' House of Industry, and the Superintendent of the Sabbath-school there gave the following account of the event : —

"One Sunday morning, I saw a tall, remarkable-looking man entered the room and took a seat among us. He listened with fixed attention to our exercises, and his countenance expressed such genuine interest that I approached him and suggested that he might be willing to say something to the children. He accepted the invitation with evident pleasure; and, coming forward, began a simple address, which at once fascinated every little hearer and hushed the room into silence. His language was strikingly beautiful, and his tones musical with intense feeling. The little faces would droop into sad conviction as he uttered sentences of warning, and would brighten into sunshine as he spoke cheerful words of promise. Once or twice he attempted to close his remarks, but the imperative shout of 'Go on! Oh, do go on!' would compel him to resume. As I looked upon the gaunt and sinewy frame of the stranger, and marked his powerful head and determined features, now touched into softness by the impressions of the moment, I felt an irrepressible curiosity to learn something more about him, and while he was quietly leaving the room I begged to know his name. He courteously replied, "It is Abraham Lincoln, from Illinois.' Mr. Nelson Sizer, one of the gallery ushers of Henry Ward Beecher's church in Brooklyn, told me that about the time of the Cooper Institute speech, Mr, Lincoln was twice present at the morning services of that church."

By all accounts the connection between Lincoln and those hardship stricken kids was profound and personal, for both sides.

[David Lockmiller]

(12-13-2019 05:50 PM)RJNorton Wrote:  Here is the account in Francis B. Carpenter's Six Months at the White House:

When Mr. Lincoln visited New York in 1860, he felt a great interest in many of the institutions for reforming criminals and saving the young from a life of crime. Among others, he visited, unattended, the Five Points' House of Industry, and the Superintendent of the Sabbath-school there gave the following account of the event:

How many versions of the truth can there possibly be?