In February 2022, Jonathan (J) Carlin started on a journey uncovering the fun facts we never knew we needed to know about the 16th U.S. President: Abraham Lincoln. These facts have been logged and have been coined The Lincoln Logs.
| Date Logged | Episode Number | Episode Type | Entry Number | Entry | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2/25/22 | 116 | ATFP | 1 | Lincoln is enshrined in the Wrestling Hall of Fame. He once challenged an entire crowd of onlookers. āIām the big buck of this lick. If any of you want to try it, come on and whet your horns.ā There were no takers. | History Channel article |
| 2/25/22 | 116 | ATFP | 2 | In a case of ultimate irony, Lincoln is the one who created the secret service. The irony is that he created it mere hours prior to his assassination. | See source for Entry #1 |
| 2/25/22 | 116 | ATFP | 3 | Graverobbers attempted to steal his corpse. In 1876, a gang of Chicago counterfeiters attempted to snatch Lincoln’s body from his tomb which was only protected by a single padlock. They planned to hold the body for ransom for $200,000. | See source for Entry #1 |
| 2/25/22 | 116 | ATFP | 4 | John Wilkes Booth’s brother saved the life of Lincoln’s son. A few months before John Wilkes Booth assassinated Lincoln, Robert Todd Lincoln stood on a train platform in Jersey City (NJ). He was pushed forward by a throng of passengers but was pulled back by the coat collar by famous actor, Edwin Booth. On the day of Edwin Booth’s funeral, Ford’s Theatre collapsed, killing 22 people. | See source for Entry #1 |
| 2/25/22 | 116 | ATFP | 5 | Lincoln is the only President to obtain a patent. He is the only American political leader who demonstrated an inventive mind. After being aboard a steamboat that ran aground on low shoals and had to unload its cargo, Lincoln who loved tinkering with machines, designed a method for keeping vessels afloat when traversing shallow waters through the use of empty metal air chambers attached to their sides. For his design, Lincoln obtained patent no. 6469 in 1849. | See source for Entry #1 |
| 2/25/22 | 116 | ATFP | 6 | Lincoln personally test fired rifles outside of the White House. A very hands-on commander-in-chief, given his passion for gadgetry, was keenly interested in the artillery used by Union troops during the Civil War. Lincoln attended an artillery and cannon test and met a the White House with investors demonstrating military prototypes. Although there was a standing order against firing weapons in the District of Columbia, Lincoln even test-fired muskets and repeating rifles on the grassy expanse around the White House, now known as the Ellipse and the National Mall. | See source for Entry #1 |
| 2/25/22 | 116 | ATFP | 7 | Lincoln came under enemy fire on a Civil War battlefield. | See source for Entry #1 |
| 2/25/22 | 116 | ATFP | 8 | Despite being mostly associated with IL, he was born in a Kentucky log cabin, grew up in Indiana, and did not move to IL until he was 21. | See source for Entry #1 |
| 2/25/22 | 116 | ATFP | 9 | Poisoned milk killed Lincoln’s mother. When he was 9 years old, his mother Nancy died of a mysterious milk sickness that swept across southern Indiana. It was later learned that the strange disease was due to the drinking of tainted milk from a cow that had ingested poisonous white snake root. | See source for Entry #1 |
| 2/25/22 | 116 | ATFP | 10 | Lincoln never slept in the Lincoln bedroom. When he occupied the White House, the 16th President used the current Lincoln bedroom as his personal office. It was there that he met with Cabinet members and signed documents including the Emancipation Proclamation. | See source for Entry #1 |
| 3/18/22 | 119 | Main | 11 | On October 4, 1861, Abraham Lincoln observed a demonstration of a balloon ascending from Washington, D.C. The balloons were used to experiment the gathering of intel during the Civil War. Balloons were actually invented by Thaddeus S. C. Lowe. | Another History Channel article |
| 5/6/22 | 126 | Main | 12 | Once upon a time, in 1833, with his good friend William F Berry, he obtained a permit to obtain a liquor license from New Salem (IL) to open a liquor store for a year. They sold wine amongst their spirits. Eventually, he left the liquor store business to become the postmaster of New Salem (IL). He was then dragged down into debt by his partner Berry due to his drinking. He later crawled out of debt and became a congressman. | Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection article |
| 5/13/22 | 127 | Main | 13 | As a child, he was kicked in the head by a horse at the Noah Gordon Mill. He also almost severed one of his thumbs with an ax as a child. He incurred frostbite in both of his feet, of which he did not lose. He was in the process of being robbed when he got clubbed in the head. He contracted malaria twice and did not die either time. He also got smallpox. While he was shot in the head at the theater, did not die until 7am the following morning. | |
| 5/20/22 | 128 | Main | 14 | The animated series, Invincible (as of May 2022, available on Amazon) is based on a comic book series that features Abraham Lincoln whose superpower is immortality. | Invincible (TV series) Wikipedia page |
| 6/3/22 | 130 | Main | 15 | The Star Wars character, Supreme Leader Snoke is based off of Abraham Lincoln. The way in which they designed Snoke’s appearance in The Force Awakens was based upon the Lincoln Monument. | Business Insider article |
| 6/17/22 | 132 | Main | 16 | Upon his death, (the morning after being shot), Lincoln proceeded post-mortem on a funeral tour (farewell tour). He spent 3 days in the White House before he traveled for three weeks on the Lincoln Special Funeral Train from DC to Springfield, stopping on the way for people to pay their respects to the late President. | |
| 8/19/22 | 141 | Main | 17 | (Throwback to entry #2, Lincoln signed the legislation creating the U.S. Secret Service, the night he was assassinated.) However, the original intent of the United States Secret Service was not presidential protection, but was actually to combat widespread currency counterfeiting. | |
| 8/26/22 | 142 | Main | 18 | When he turned 21, he left his home to enter city life by building a 80-ft canoe and took a trip up the river. He set off for New Orleans but ran aground at the mill dam below the New Salem bluff. Undaunted, he saved it from sinking with an auger commandeered from the local copper shop before continuing his journey. | Learn more about the Lincoln Heritage Water Trail |
| 9/2/22 | 143 | Main | 19 | Abraham Lincoln’s favorite drink was… wait for it… plain water!! | |
| 9/23/22 | 146 | Main | 20 | Abraham Lincoln never went to law school. However, he had an office where he practiced law as he was able to pass the bar exam. | Learn more about Abraham Lincoln’s career in law from AbrahamLincolnOnline. |
| 9/23/22 | 146 | Main | 21 | He only spent 18 months in formal schooling throughout his entire life (according to Jazzy “Jonathan” J). | We were unable to find J’s source for “18 months of formal schooling”. (J, source please?) Learn more about Abraham Lincoln’s education from Study.com. |
