Ten Things You Might Not Know About Abraham Lincoln-- Part 1

From the November 11, 2012, Chicago Tribune by Mark Jacob and Stephen Benzkofer.  I usually do these in my Cooter's History Blog, but a lot of this pertains to the Civil War, so here goes.  These two reporters are researchers grade A and did this because of the new movie on Lincoln.

 1.  Lincoln detested the name"ABE," and his friends and family avoided using it in his presence.


2.  The Lincoln's Sparrow is not named after him, but for Thomas Lincoln, a man from Maine who shot the bird so John James Audubon could draw it.  Also, the towns of Lincoln in Alabama and Vermont and the counties of Lincoln in Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina and Tennessee are all named for Revolutionary War general Benjamin Lincoln who accepted the British surrender at Yorktown.

2A.  Lincoln, Illinois, was named after Abraham Lincoln before he became president.  He reportedly christened the town by spitting out a watermelon seed.


3.  Lincoln wanted blacks to be free--to leave the country and supported proposals to send them back to Africa at one time.

More to Come.  --Old Secesh