ABRAHAM LINCOLN VISITS WITH HIS PEOPLE
by J. H. CRAMER
Associate Professor of History,
Youngstown College
The crossroads of America nurtured
Abraham Lincoln; they
were home to him. He spent most of his
life in the villages and
small towns of the Middle West, and the
thriving city of Spring-
field, Illinois, numbered only seven
thousand persons in its popu-
lation during the years in which Lincoln
was one of its leading
citizens. The teeming life of the
American city never appealed to
the man of the prairies; he was more at
home among the towns-
people with whom he had lived.
Cities played a part in the life of the
man, and he appeared
before more than one large crowd of city
people as he traveled
upon the way to Washington in 1861. He
did not feel at home be-
fore these people, and he voiced his
feelings to a guest upon the
train which was carrying him from
Cincinnati to Columbus. The
fellow traveler was Dr. James Scott,
editor of a Republican weekly
in a small Ohio town, and a politician
of local note. He had
traveled with some fellow members of the
state legislature as one
of a committee to escort the
president-elect to Columbus. Lincoln
and the group were chatting pleasantly
upon the incidents of the
trip, and the reception at Cincinnati
was referred to as one of the
outstanding events in the travels
through Illinois, Indiana, and
Ohio. The "Queen City" of Ohio
had a population well in excess
of 150,000 people, and most of the
citizens had gathered to see
and hear the first president-elect of
the newly formed Republican
party. Pro-southerners had listened to
his words with apprehen-
sion; the German workingmen had
applauded his words, and the
ovation must have pleased and encouraged
the distinguished guest.
It had impressed his fellow travelers,
and they asked about his
reaction to the reception. Editor Scott,
who was close at hand,
observed that in his reply, "the
president remarked he had never
been much in big cities, and city ways
came awkward to him, and he
66
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 67
did not know but what he appeared
awkward to big cities."1 Many
newspaper editors and reporters of the
period would have written
"Amen" to this bit of
self-appraisal.
Washington, Chicago, Cincinnati,
Philadelphia, and New York
played definite parts in the career of a
great American, but Abra-
ham Lincoln's America was a rural one,
with small villages and
towns nestled upon rolling prairies.
Hodgenville, Little Pigeon
Creek, Decatur, Danville, New Salem, and
Springfield; these were
the towns in which Abraham Lincoln
lived, learned of men and
things, and laid the foundation of the
man who matured into a
statesman. These were the places that
dotted the life of Abraham
Lincoln; they were the homes of his
people.
In view of his close association with
villages and small towns
(those localities which city dwellers
are prone to consider the cross-
roads of America), it is interesting to
notice that Abraham Lincoln's
townfolk have received slight
consideration in the reports of his
trip to Washington. A few brief
references; casual notice of the
short sentences of the president-elect;
and a word of his departure-
these comprise the story of rural
America in the large city dailies
of 1861. Indifference to the America
which Lincoln knew is not
strange. 0. H. Dutton of the New York
Tribune, Henry Villard of
the New York Herald, and J.
Howard, Jr., of the New York Times
might have an interest in the words
spoken in a small town, or in a
stop there, but such things had little
news value for the readers of
the newspapers in New York City. W. P.
Painter of the Phila-
delphia Inquirer wrote in detail of one or two receptions in the
small towns, but the columns of the
newspapers in the large cities
were devoted to the more important
addresses of the president-elect
and his visits to the larger cities. The
jocular remarks of an Illinois
giant at Thorntown, Indiana, a
flattering word to the ladies of
Painesville, or a pleasant good morning
to the people of Wil-
loughby could not excite interest among
the readers of the daily
newspapers of New York City and
Philadelphia. It might be enter-
taining news for Clevelanders, but the
reporters for the three
journals of this growing Ohio city gave
little space to the visits to
rural towns. The story is found in the
pages of the local press
where it has lain hidden for over eighty
years.
1 Western Star (Lebanon,
Ohio), February 21, 1861.
68
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY,
The visit of the Civil War president to
Cleveland was chron-
icled in full in each one of the daily
newspapers of the city, and
every journal in the large cities of the
nation carried several
columns upon the reception in the
"Forest City." These accounts
have been reprinted in Cleveland
newspapers of the present day,
and there are few unknown facts
concerning the stop in the present-
day metropolis of Ohio. The reason why
the version of the address
given by Lincoln as it appears in the
pages of the Cleveland Plain
Dealer and the Cleveland Leader is different from that
of the other
city newspapers of the day is one of the
few unknown things con-
cerning Lincoln and the city of
Cleveland. Abraham Lincoln in
Cleveland was of interest to
Clevelanders; his words and the visit
made good news-story material for
reporters in Buffalo, Pittsburgh,
Cincinnati, Philadelphia, and New York.
The subsequent stops at
the villages of Euclid, Willoughby,
Painesville, and Geneva seem to
have meant nothing to the readers of the
large cities.
No vast crowd of citizens greeted the
president-elect in these
villages, nor did he utter words of
import to rural townspeople who
had gathered to welcome him. His words
meant little to the re-
porters who traveled with Abraham
Lincoln; they held interest only
for the fellow commoners of the man of
the crossroads. They had
come to see this lanky fellow whom they
had helped to place in the
highest office in the land; they had
assembled to hear a word of
greeting. The brief remarks to which
these people listened are
relatively unimportant, but they reveal
the man of the small towns,
at ease and at home among his people.
The departure for a visit with the
"homefolks" was blessed
with fair skies and mild weather. The
day before, President-elect
Lincoln had marched in a downpour
through the mud of the Cleve-
land streets. The good weather of
February 16 brought a gala
crowd of Clevelanders to the old depot
on the lake front to bid
Lincoln God speed and farewell. The Lake
Shore Railroad had
provided a special train, and the
president's car was acknowledged
to be the most palatial coach in which
he had ridden since the de-
parture from Springfield. The veteran
engineer of the line, Wil-
liam Congdon, was at the throttle of the
powerful locomotive, the
"William Case." Reception committees from Buffalo and Erie
boarded the train to accompany the
president-elect to their respec-
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 69
tive cities, and only incidentally to
suggest that the more juicy
political plums would prove most
palatable to them. A few Cleve-
land politicians of note, D. K. Cartter,
Judge Tilden, Judge Spald-
ing, and Judge Wilson, rode on to Erie,
in the hope that their am-
bition for federal office might be
realized. It is significant to note
that Cartter was later appointed as
chief justice of the Supreme
Court of the District of Columbia. It
may have been the influence
of a vote changed to Abraham Lincoln at
Chicago; it may have
been the ability of the man; it may have
been the ride to Erie; but
the three factors combined to help a
president-elect remember a
political debt.
The last guest boarded the train, and at
about nine-thirty in
the morning, it left upon the trip to
Buffalo. The presidential
special did not pause at the small
village of Euclid, upon the out-
skirts of Cleveland, but crowds of
people had gathered along the
track to fire cannon and cheer the
gentleman from Illinois. One
overzealous citizen, William Hazen, did
not tend his firing piece
with the necessary care, and the first
unhappy incident of the trip
occurred. The Euclid resident lost a
hand as he fired a salute in
honor of the newly elected president.
The train was behind time, and it sped
rapidly toward the town
of Willoughby. No stop was planned at
this Ohio town of 1,700
people, but it does seem that the cars
paused for a minute or two.
The entire population of the town and
surrounding countryside had
assembled, and it was a happy throng
that watched the train draw
to a stop. Lincoln appeared upon the
rear platform of his car, and
after the cheering people had subsided
into silence, he addressed a
few words to them. The town of
Willoughby boasted no newspaper
in 1861, and the only account of the
visit of the president-elect
appeared in a letter to the weekly paper
of the neighboring village
of Painesville. One Willoughby citizen
was rather elated over the
fact that he had not arisen early in the
morning to join the group
of his townspeople who had traveled to
Painesville to swell the
throng gathered there. He had stayed at
home with some of his
fellow residents and written the
following note to the Painesville
editor:
To-be-President Lincoln was to stop and
speak at Painesville on Saturday
-that was to day-and some of our most
enterprizing citizens went down to
70
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
hear him, with a view of taking in his
dimensions. Well, some of our not-
so-enterprizing citizens, to the number
of six hundred, stayed at home, and
saw as much and heard more of him. So
true is it that "luck is in leisure".
Yes, Mr. Editor, "Honest Old
Abe" did say "Good morning" to Willoughby,
and Willoughby said, "God bless
you, man of cares, doomed to toss on the
top billows of these troublous times."2
The letter was signed by an anonymous
"Was There" and
contains the only account of the fact
that Abraham Lincoln spoke
at Willoughby. It is only known that he
said "good morning," and
only the assertion that the people of
the northeastern Ohio village
heard more of him than those of
Painesville permits of any insight
into the length of his speech. The crowd
had listened to the presi-
dent-elect for a few minutes at best;
the locomotive whistle had
sounded; and the train traveled upon the
way to the lake town of
Painesville.
The capital of Lake County expected
Lincoln, and it had pre-
pared a reception for him. Upon Friday
night a committee of three
had gone to Cleveland to make the
necessary arrangements to re-
ceive the president-elect. Mayor Wilcox
had remained over night to
accompany the distinguished visitor upon
the trip to Painesville.
Early in the morning of Saturday the
16th, a flagstaff was raised on
the small depot, from which the Stars
and Stripes fluttered in the
breeze. A stand had been constructed of
railroad ties; it was a
fitting platform, for it was to hold the
"rail-splitter" of Illinois.
As early as nine o'clock the crowd began
to assemble at the depot,
and despite the fact that Painesville
was a town of but about 2,000
people, the crowd numbered from 4,000 to
5,000 persons. The rural
folk had gathered to meet a man of their
soil. The people did not
mind the wait; the tuneful Painesville
Cornet Band was upon hand
to provide entertainment.
It was nearing ten o'clock as the
presidential train drew toward
the Painesville depot. The tall
gentleman from the neighboring
state of Illinois alighted with his
shorter fellow traveler, Mayor
Wilcox. Both ascended the rail platform,
and the mayor introduced
Lincoln in a brief speech that must have
delighted him. Mayor
Wilcox had no advice for the "man
of cares"; he merely said:
2 Painesville Telegraph, February 21, 1861.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 71
"Fellow Citizens-I have the
pleasure of introducing to you, the
President elect, the Hon. Abraham
Lincoln, of Illinois."3
The people cheered the Honorable Abraham
Lincoln loudly,
and after the noise had died down, the
noted speaker responded to
the introduction of the mayor, in these
few appropriate words:
LADIES and GENTLEMEN-I have stepped out
upon this platform that
I may see you and that you may see me,
and in the arrangement I have the
best of the bargain. The train stops
only for a few minutes, so that I have time
to make but few remarks. We are met by
large crowds at almost every ten
miles, but in few instances where there
are so many as here, or where there
are so many (turning towards them and
bowing) good-looking ladies. I can
only say now that I bid you good morning
and farewell.4
He then turned toward the musicians and
said, "Let us have
the better music of the band." He
had made a homely little speech,
a talk to his friends at the crossroads.
He had been jocular Abra-
ham Lincoln, not the serious man of
Indianapolis and Cleveland.
This fellow who had once been accused of
being lacking in those
little links that make up the gentleman
had voiced his gallantry to
the ladies, and the reporter for the Cleveland
Plain Dealer observed
that the words caused a marked
fluttering and preening upon the
part of the fair ladies of Painesville.
He had spoken of the "fair
ladies" at Newark, Ohio, but it was
the first time that he had told a
crowd that he had the best of the
bargain in seeing them. He was
to use the sentence upon frequent
occasion in later speeches in towns
and cities. The reaction of the ladies
is not given in the words of
the Painesville reporter, but he does
note that Lincoln "is a brighter
and better-looking man than the
portraits around the country indi-
cate." It is possible that the
ladies may have helped to persuade
their husbands to vote for him in 1864.
The band struck up a tune, the people
rent the air with shouts
for the "constitution as it
is," and Superintendent Nottingham
cried "all aboard." A weary
giant of a man, hoarse from too many
speeches, regained his place in the
cars, and the train steamed on
to Madison. The president-elect had
paused for five minutes at
Painesville.
Madison was a town of slightly over
2,000 persons, but the cars
paused for only one minute in this Ohio
town. Lincoln appeared
3 Painesville Telegraph, February 21, 1861.
4 Painesville Telegraph, February 21, 1861.
72
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
upon the platform of his car and spoke
only long enough to compli-
ment the fair ladies in the crowd. He
then disappeared into the
car, and the locomotive sped on to
Geneva.
At this small village upon the shores of
Lake Erie, a large
crowd of seventeen hundred people had
gathered at the depot,
virtually the entire populace of the
town. A group of ladies was
present holding a banner upon which were
inscribed the words, "The
Lord is God." As the train
approached a cannon boomed forth in
salute. The president-elect stepped out
upon the platform, and a
Dr. Burrows, a Geneva minister, stepped
forward to read his pre-
pared address of welcome to the visitor:
Abraham Lincoln, the Peoples
representative and President: Aided by
Divine Providence may he guide the Ship
of State (now floating among the
reefs and breakers of Disunion) that she
may be brought back to her original
moorings. The Constitution as it is; the
Union as it was; and liberty
uncompromised.5
Loud cheering greeted the completion of
the reading of the
speech. It was a flowery effort, much
unlike the simple welcome
of Mayor Wilcox, but Abraham Lincoln
responded in a few words
expressive of his approval of the
sentiments voiced by Dr. Burrows.
Again the crowd applauded and cheered,
and an old Geneva resi-
dent called out, "'Uncle Abe,'
stand firm." He was "Mr. Lincoln"
to his friends in Springfield; he was
"Uncle Abe" to the old fellow
in Geneva, a man of the crossroads.
The crowd continued shouting the praise
of the tall guest, the
locomotive whistle pierced the din, and
Abraham Lincoln of Illi-
nois was on the way to the thriving lake
port of Ashtabula. It
was a busy little town, but it was not
the city of 23,000 people that
it is at present. There were about 1,500
persons in the lake town
in 1861, and almost all of them went to
greet Lincoln. It might
have been expected that the Republican
leader would stop at Ashta-
bula, for it was close to the home of
his former congressional
messmate, Joshua Reed Giddings. The Ohio
abolitionist had been
fond of the more conservative Illinois
congressman, and he had been
one of the first to send his
congratulations upon the election of the
Illinoisan to the presidency.
The president might expect to recive a
favorable newspaper
5 Ashtabula Weekly Telegraph, March 2, 1861.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 73
reception in Ashtabula, for the Ashtabula
Sentinel, which was pub-
lished at nearby Jefferson, was the
personal organ of the fiery
Joshua Giddings. The editorial policy of
the paper was directed
by an able journalistic group, the
Howells family. A young son
of the family had produced one of the
early campaign lives of the
president-elect, and now he was
disporting himself in the company
of an equally youthful editor in their
work of editing the Ohio State
Journal at Columbus. The young men were amusing themselves
by confusing the citizens of the Ohio
capital with editorials which
did not reveal the exact political stand
of the newspaper. A
Howells-Giddings weekly could be
expected to give full attention to
the visit of the former congressman from
Illinois. The Sentinel
failed to report the brief remarks of
the honored guests, but it did
give a colorful description of the
visit, from which an interesting
view of the reception may be obtained.
Although the train was not due into the
depot until about
eleven in the morning, as soon as dawn
streaked the Ohio sky, the
people began to travel on foot and upon
horseback from the sur-
rounding countryside. They came from
distances as great as thirty
miles, and by ten o'clock a dense throng
of between 3,000 and 4,000
people was gathered at the station.
Shortly before the arrival of
the presidential train, an empty cattle
train of fifteen cars was run
upon a side switch. It was immediately
filled by a crowd of 1,500
persons which taxed the capacity of the
cars. The booming of
cannon and the brassy voices of trumpets
announced the approach
of the train. As it drew to a stop the
tall figure of Mr. Lincoln
appeared upon the platform of the rear
car. The townspeople
greeted him with three hearty cheers and
paused a moment for quiet
to be restored. He was hoarse from too
many speeches, and he
was barely audible beyond the first few
rows of people, but he
greeted them in these words: "I can
only say how do you do, and
farewell, as my voice, you perceive will
warrant nothing more. I
am happy to see so many pleasant faces
around me and to be able
to greet you as friends."6
He bowed not ungracefully as he
concluded, and turned to
enter the car. One of the ladies called
out that the feminine portion
of the crowd would like to see Mrs.
Lincoln. The president-elect
6 Ashtabula Weekly Telegraph, February 23, 1861.
74
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
turned, smiled down at the ladies, and
replied that "he should
hardly hope to induce her to appear, as
he had always found it
difficult to make her do what she did
not want to."7 The people
laughed heartily, and Lincoln joined in
the general merriment.
The Ashtabula reporter made no reference
to the reaction of the
fiery and cultured Mary Todd Lincoln, if
she heard the sally of
humor directed at her. After these last
remarks, the crowd surged
forward, and many sought to shake hands
with the weary man. He
laughingly declined, explaining that his
arms were almost shaken
from his body. The people had been
pleased with his visit, and the
editors of both Ashtabula papers
observed that the people, far
from being disappointed with their side
of the bargain, were im-
pressed with the pleasant smile and the
general appearance of the
man whom they had chosen as president.
A last cheer from the people, one last
strain of music from the
band, and the salute of the cannon
marked the departure of the
president-elect. The locomotive
"William Case," puffed
merrily
on the way to Conneaut, the last stop in
Ohio. It was a small town
near the Pennsylvania border where about
2,000 people made their
homes. The town had appointed a
committee of reception. At
about nine o'clock on Friday, February
15, the committee had con-
sulted the railroad company concerning
the probable hour of the
arrival of the special train. The
Conneaut editor wrote that the
committee had received a telegram from
Cleveland, stating that the
train would pause for a few moments
"that the populace might
have a chance to look at the great
man."
Conneaut was pleased with the news that
it was to see a presi-
dent-to-be, and early upon Saturday
morning, the citizens began to
decorate the depot for the festive
occasion. Other citizens were sent
out in every direction to inform the
people of the visit of Lincoln.
Bells were rung, flags were waved, and
cannon thundered forth the
notice for the people to assemble. Soon
the rural dwellers began
to come from every direction, and they
continued to arrive at the
station even after the train had
departed. At eleven-thirty, when
the engine drew to a halt before the
little Conneaut depot, over
2,000 men, women, and children were
gathered to see the gaunt
fellow from Illinois. The
"downbrake" whistle sounded, the train
7 Ibid.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 75
rolled to a stop, and
four gentlemen stepped upon the rear platform
of the last car. One
towered above the rest, and as the people saw
him, they burst forth
in wild applause. Men and women jostled
each other as they
surged forward for a better view. Lincoln stood
silent for a moment. He
was hoarse; his voice was nearing a rough
whisper; but the people
had come from distant farms to hear a
word from him. He had
little time for words, but he stepped for-
ward and said, "I
have lost my voice and cannot make a speech,
but my intentions are
good."8 There were many people North and
South who would have
liked an expression of specific intention upon
his part. The people
applauded the announcement of "good inten-
tions," and the
speaker concluded by thanking them for their kindly
demonstration. The cars
began to move slowly forward through
aisles of people upon
both sides of the track, and Abraham Lincoln
stood upon the platform
bowing to the cheering throngs. At this
moment, a Captain
Appleby of Conneaut called out to him, "Don't
give up the ship!"
The weary giant called back, "With your aid
I never will as long as
life lasts."9 He was to die just as he piloted
the ship safely into
harbor.
The trip through the
crossroads of Ohio had been completed,
but it had ended upon a
happy note. The editor who had spoken
of a great man, looked
at that man and penned one of the most
interesting
contemporary portraits of Abraham Lincoln. He wrote
these words for readers
of the Conneaut weekly journal, the Con-
neaut Reporter:
As we looked at that
face, upon which so many eyes are now turned, we
could not choose but
admire the manly features, despite the sometimes repre-
sentation of ugliness.
As he stood there nodding and bowing to the multi-
tude, we detected the
unmistakeable lines of determination, tempered with
humanity written upon
his lineaments. The common portraits and caricatures
do not express
correctly his features. They give, it is true, something of the
contour, but as a
general thing are much too large and are far coarser than
an inspection of the
original proves them to be. Anxiety and care are per-
ceptible upon his face,
but there is nevertheless, a calm, unassuming some-
thing about it which
leads the beholder to hope that he may be the instru-
ment in the hands of
the people, of quieting the troubled waters, and the
good old ship-of-state
may be brought back to her former safe and quiet
moorings.10
8 Conneaut Reporter, February
21, 1861.
9 Ibid.
10 Ibid.
76
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
The small-town residents of northeastern
Ohio had seen and
heard Abraham Lincoln, and they had been
pleased with the man.
Then he was on his way to the small but
thriving city of Erie. The
cars stopped at the Pennsylvania lake
port; Lincoln partook of an
excellent meal and appeared to address a
few words to the citizens
of Erie.
From Erie, the train went to the town of
Westfield, nestled in
the rural areas of a great state. It
might seem strange that the
account of Abraham Lincoln and the small
towns of northeastern
Ohio should end in a small New York
state village, but two Ohioans
played an important part in the visit to
Westfield. There was little
reason to stop at the town except for
the fact that Lincoln had a
youthful correspondent in the town.
Months before he had quietly
chuckled over her letter. She had wanted
an answer from one of
his little girls, and, having none, he
had replied. She had liked
the pretty rail border around his
picture, but she felt that his face
could stand improvement. Little wonder
that a gaunt fellow with
a sense of humor told his audiences that
he had the better of the
bargain when they met to see each other.
Abraham Lincoln of
Illinois had come to greet his youthful
correspondent from rural
New York.
A large crowd gathered at Westfield to
greet the president-
elect, and he hoped the young miss was
in it. The metropolitan
dailies gave slight attention to one of
the most colorful meetings
upon the trip. Many years later Mrs.
Grace Billings made the story
known to the public, but she seems to
have been unaware of an
account by a Cleveland reporter which
had introduced her to the
people in the critical days of February
1861. The letter which she
wrote to a busy nominee was not made
public until the 1930's, but
part of the contents had been given in
the columns of a Cleveland
daily as early as 1861. The Cleveland
reporter noticed that a large
banner uttered words of welcome to
Lincoln and that the shouts
of the citizens greeted him as he
stepped upon the platform of his
special car. He made some complimentary
remarks upon New
York state and the fair ladies of
Westfield, and concluded with the
following sentences:
During the campaign last Fall I received
a letter from this place-and a
very pretty letter it was, too. It was
written by a young girl, whose name if
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 77
he remembered rightly, was Bedell-Among
other things in that letter was a
recommendation that I should let my
whiskers grow, as it would improve my
appearance. It was partly from that
suggestion that I have done so. If that
young lady is in this crowd I should like very much to
see her.11
Little Miss Bedell was pointed out by a
number of bystanders,
and she walked forward to meet the man
who had been as consider-
ate of a letter from a child as of one
from a noted political leader.
Some accounts assert that the
president-elect greeted her with hearty
kisses, but the letters of Mrs. Billings
do not corroborate such state-
ments. One other reporter upon the
special train wrote a detailed
account of the meeting with Miss Bedell,
and he was the only news-
paperman, with the exception of the
correspondent for the Cleveland
Herald, to copy down the words spoken by Lincoln. The man was
William P. Painter of the Philadelphia
Inquirer, and he erred in
calling Miss Bedell by the name of
Barlly. A Cleveland newspaper-
man and Abraham Lincoln made Miss Bedell
known to the nation
upon February 16, 1861, but most of the
widely circulated dailies
of the day ignored the incident. Most of
them contented themselves
with a reference to Miss Bedell as an
attractive young woman, and
portrayed the president-elect as a man
who enjoyed saluting beauti-
ful young ladies with a kiss. Only one
paper tried to picture the
young lady as she was; the correspondent
for the Cleveland Plain
Dealer wrote that the Westfield miss was twelve years of age,
a
disillusioning report for those who
pictured Mr. Lincoln as a ro-
mantic Lochinvar from out of Illinois.
The words which Abraham Lincoln spoke at
the crossroads
were not significant, nor had he
intended them to be. He had
neither the inclination nor the time to
make important speeches in
the small towns. The addresses in the
cities were serious in tone,
but, with one or two exceptions, they
were composed with the pur-
pose of saying a few things to the
people without disclosing any
definite policy. The brief speeches and
remarks to the crowds in
the small towns were just what Abraham
Lincoln intended they
should be, words of greeting and
farewell, nothing more. The
commoner from Springfield had merely
desired to visit with his
people, not to discuss national problems
with them.
The crowds in the small towns and the
activities and words of
11 Cleveland Herald, February 18,
1861.
78
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
the president-elect in the rural places
did not make good news copy
for the metropolitan press. The
crossroads meant little to the city
readers, but they were important to
Abraham Lincoln. They were
the homes of the people who had started
him upon a political
career; they were the part of America he
knew and had grown up
in. He had joked with these rural folk;
he had greeted them with
pleasantries; but here and there a
sentence stood forth. There was
the courageous reply to Captain Appleby,
"With your aid I never
will as long as life lasts." The
government of, by, and for the
people would survive as long as it had
men of the courage and
vision of Abraham Lincoln and men of the
small towns and great
cities helping their leaders to preserve
a nation dedicated to a free
people.
Abraham Lincoln never forgot the
crossroads; they had nur-
tured him. America cannot ignore them,
for it was the small towns
like Willoughby, Painesville, Ashtabula,
Conneaut, and Westfield
which produced the greatest figure of
the American crossroads-
Abraham Lincoln.