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Rob Wick · 09-11-2012, 04:52 PM

I listened to that several years ago. I wish I could remember more of it.

Here's a YouTube link to the album.

Best
Rob

LincolnMan · 09-11-2012, 05:16 PM

Thanks Rob for providing the link. I didn't check to see if it is on YouTube. As I remember, by the way, even JFK got a kick out of it.

L Verge · 09-17-2012, 05:38 PM

I mentioned last week that I was reading a new book by Jefferson Morley entitled Snow-Storm in August, concerning a little-known race riot in our nation's capital in 1835. I found it very enjoyable, but also very educational on one of the early instances of abolitionists vs. slave holders contentions right at the steps of our Capitol.

While very small in the big picture of race riots, this one involved a free black, Beverly Snow, who entered the Washington social scene as a top restauranteur whose establishment attracted legislators as well as socialites - until the moment that a drunken slave boy of Mrs. William Thornton appeared to have threatened her life. That boy and the free blacks of the city became embroiled in one of the big news items of the day - during the Jackson administration to boot.

How many of you know anything about Francis Scott Key other than he was a lawyer and wrote The Star Spangled Banner? In 1835, he was the District Attorney for Washington, D.C. and charged with prosecuting a white abolitionist who happened to come to the city at an inopportune time as well as the slave boy. It was not a hard task for Key since he believed in slavery and supported the colonization movement. On the defense side (which won), we saw the rising star of Joseph Bradley, a name that would later be in the news with the trial of John H. Surratt, Jr.

By 1836, the slavery issue was very evident in the nation's capital. Something that had been infrequently mentioned in the halls of Congress now became contentious. The gag rule of May 1836 began a struggle led by former president John Quincy Adams and a small anti-slavery bloc to force the pro-slavery members to accept petitions for the abolition of slavery in the city. From 1838-39, the Twenty-Fifth Congress received over 1500 petitions signed by over 100,000 petitioners with 80% supporting abolition in the capital.

Among those who supported the rights of the petitioners to be heard was a first-term Congressman from Illinois named Abraham Lincoln. The pro-slavery movement won at that time, but it became obvious that the next several decades would continue to see the tension increase between the South and the North and West.

BTW: Free black, Beverly Snow, escaped the riot, but attempted to return to D.C. and start over again. He failed because of white backlash (the "mechanics," as they were known then) and moved to safe haven in Canada, where he established a number of prosperous businesses in Toronto. If forum member Kieran McAuliffe of Toronto reads this posting, he might want to find Snow's grave and that of his wife in Toronto's Necropolis.

Kieran McAuliffe · 09-19-2012, 07:38 AM

Hi Laurie
Thanks for reminding me about Beverly Snow. Snow Storm in August sounds very interesting.
Your comment about finding Snow's grave reminded me of another grave in Toronto in a cemetery not far from my house. This will be of interest to those who know a bit about the Lincoln assassination. A grave stone there supposedly marks the burial site of the one-year-old son of Godfrey Hyams. The name on the stone is T.J. Stonewall Jackson Hyams. Now there's a story...
Kieran

LincolnMan · 09-19-2012, 01:21 PM

Just started reading Shiloh by Winston Groom. Anyone read it already? Still in first chapter but I like his style-in an easy-going sort of way. I say that because I have never cared for Shelby Footes The Civil War-too detailed for me personally.

L Verge · 09-19-2012, 06:53 PM

I don't know much about the Hyams story except that the child's father, Godfrey Hyams, worked for the Canadian Confederates for awhile (probably to earn money) and was a sympathizer enough to name his son after the famous general.

When times got tough, however, Hyams traded his sympathies to the North and later became a witness at the 1865 Conspiracy Trial as part of the attempt to show that the assassination was spearheaded by the Confederacy in Richmond and Canada.

Kieran can probably add a lot to this. And, John Stanton is good at tracking those covert operations between Richmond and Montreal. Did I come close to telling the story?

A gentleman by the name of Charles Hyams (recently deceased, I believe) talked to both Joan Chaconas and I years ago while in the process of writing a book that I cannot remember the name of right now. I never got enough nerve to ask him if he was related to Godfrey.

LincolnMan · 09-21-2012, 06:45 AM

My wife is in the UP. Any "yoopers" here? Anyway, UP stands for "Upper Peninsula" of Michigan. She was at a used bookstore and bought a book for me. It's printed 1894 and entitled: Abraham Lincoln's Stories and Speeches by J. B. McClure. Anyone familiar with it?

RJNorton · 09-21-2012, 07:05 AM

Oh, yes! I have that book. Mine is a 1906 edition published in Chicago by the Rhodes and McClure Publishing Company. My copy of the book, in all honesty, is falling apart. It is the book where I first read that story of Lincoln saving the pig who was struggling and could not get out of the mud. The book is full of Lincoln stories but no sources.

LincolnMan · 09-21-2012, 07:10 AM

Good morning Roger. Well, it sounds like it is a "fun" book. I'll probably be reporting back on some interesting or odd thing in it for us to consider. How many Lincoln books are there; 15,000?

RJNorton · 09-21-2012, 07:15 AM

Bill, you will enjoy the book! And, yes, I also have seen the figure as roughly 15,000.

Rogerm · 09-21-2012, 08:06 AM

Several years ago, an acquaintance of mine gave me a book entitled Abraham Lincoln: The Boy and the Man which was written by James Morgan in 1908. Is anybody familiar with this? I haven't gotten around to reading it yet.

RJNorton · (This post was last modified: 09-22-2012 05:54 AM by RJNorton.)

Roger, I am not familiar with that one.

I have a book titled "Lincoln the Unknown" by Dale Carnegie. Is anyone familiar with this one? What did you think?

Joe Di Cola · 09-22-2012, 08:33 AM

(09-22-2012 05:42 AM)RJNorton Wrote: Roger, I am not familiar with that one.

I have a book titled "Lincoln the Unknown" by Dale Carnegie. Is anyone familiar with this one? What did you think?

My father bought this for me in 1953 or 54 when he took me to Springfield, New Salem, etc. for the first time. It was a "Pocketbook" paperback (remember those) and cost a whopping 25 cents! The paperback was entitled THE UNKNOWN LINCOLN. I thought it was ok; it presented mostly little vignettes from Lincoln's life--much like Lloyd Lewis did in one of his works. More importantly, it prodded me onwards to reading Sandburg and Thomas, and into a lifetime spent with Lincoln! Do you have the 1932 first edition?

RJNorton · 09-22-2012, 08:59 AM

No, but I wish I did. The copy I have is from 1959 and has a green cover. I bought it many years ago from an antiquarian bookseller.

Gene C · 09-22-2012, 10:26 AM

I have one like Roger's, purchased years ago at a used book store for $1.50. (the store closed)
Nice little encouraging book. It was awarded to the original owner for his participatin in a Dale Carnigie class

Probably not the most historicaly accurate, but meant to inspire people to over come adversity, as Linclon did.
I have enjoyed it.