John C. Black-- Part 5: Lincoln Slept There

From the Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture.

A Medal of Honor recipient for valor at the Battle of Prairie Grove, Arkansas, and brevet major general of volunteers.  John Charles (Charlie) Black later served as U.S. Congressman and national commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR).

He was born January 27, 1839, in Lexington, Mississippi, to the Reverend John Black and Josephine Culbertson Black.  He was the eldest of four children.  After the Reverend Black died in 1847, his widow  moved her family to Danville, Illinois, to be near her brother James Culbertson.

Soon afterwards, she married Dr. William Fithian who served in the Illinois General Assembly with Abraham Lincoln in 1834.  Lincoln successfully represented Fithian in a lawsuit in 1850.  During the 1858 campaign for U.S. senator, Lincoln stayed at the Danville home of John's parents during his travels for the Lincoln-Douglas Debates and spoke briefly to a crowd of well-wishers on September 21.

--Old Secesh