When Lincoln Came to Egypt by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Southern Illinois University Press

MORGANFIELD, KY., 1840

When, in the fall of 1840, it was known in Morganfield, Kentucky, that Lincoln would speak at Shawneetown in the Tippecanoe campaign, the Whigs under the leadership of George W. Riddell perfected plans to bring the young Illinoisan over into his native state. The young Whig missionary, like Paul who heard the cry, “Come over into Macedonia and help us,” gave ear to his native people and agreed to lend a helping hand. Mr. Riddell was an enthusiast in many ways; and in Kentucky, the home of Henry Clay, it was easy to work up an enthusiastic Tippecanoe rally, and he not only kindled the flame in Morganfield, but came over to Shawneetown and soon had the Whigs in that young city not only willing to help but anxious to show Morganfield how to do it.

On the day following Lincoln’s address in Shawneetown, or possibly later, his friends in that town accompanied him to the Kentucky county-seat. It was a good delegation—Lincoln, Henry Eddy, Samuel D. Marshall, twenty-six young ladies, one for each state, perched on a large canoe drawn by six white horses, a band of singers, a goodly number of Whigs in line, women, children, and a cannon.

When the cavalcade reached Morganfield, Kentucky, eleven miles from Shawneetown, Lincoln, his special friends from the Illinois town, the singers, and the young ladies representing the twenty-six states in the Union at that time, were all guests of Mr. Riddell at the town’s best hotel. He found afterwards that his bill for their dinner was just thirty dollars.

The speaking platform was not far from the hotel. The exercises were started off with music by the band, the canoe with the young ladies, the singers, and the voters in a monster parade. The procession wound up at the speakers’ platform. With more music by the band and the singers, the audience was in an expectant mood. The cannon brought over from Shawneetown was loaded to suit the occasion. It was backed up against a large tree and at the proper time the torch was applied and there were thunderous roarings followed by thick clouds of smoke. When the people came to themselves, the cannon was lying on the ground in two pieces. The touch hole and about four inches of the butt end of the barrel were lying here, and a yard or more of the small end of the gun was lying there.

When the war came in 1861, Mr. Riddell cast his fortunes with the seceders. He was demonstrative in words and actions. At times he was very severe in his denunciations of the government and even of his neighbors. His case was referred to the semi-military authorities. He was arrested and confined in a military prison. The fare was not of the best and he soon tired of it. In fact, he would much prefer to be back in dreamy old Morganfield. With pen and ink he addressed himself to his old friend, Honest Abe:

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.