“Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809, in Hardin County, Kentucky, about fifty miles south of Louisville.”
Abraham Lincoln
James McPherson tells us in the introduction this short biography, which I decided to read before embarking on some longer ones I have, that he wanted to present a balanced approach to the history (balanced in terms of scope) with a focus on the most important details of Lincoln’s life, without being overly broad. The balance then looks like concentrated focus on a few areas and then large chunks otherwise little examined. Some of the focus areas are Lincoln’s various legislative roles and especially the elections. Lincoln seems almost as famous for running for office, and other losing, than winning and legislating. But I think the focus here is that Lincoln was strategic in his approach, willing to bow out when it made sense rather than waste time and resources otherwise. For example, he carried several early ballots of a legislative senate election, but failed to gain a majority, meaning that the only chance to control that seat at all would be a compromise candidate. Better his compromise than someone else’s if he was going to move forward. The other famous loss came with the 1858 senate election as well, which previewed the 1860 presidential election. What I didn’t know was that Lincoln was almost the vice presidential candidate on the 1856 Republican ticket.
I also didn’t realize the extent to which Lincoln was a successful lawyer, making in one of his first years as much as the governor of Illinois, and a few years later several times more.
I think have put off the much longer biopgraphy long enough, and feel primed to jump in. I think I will still read a few more concentrated historical analyses that involve Lincoln, but can move forward with the biographical study.
I don’t think I am going to jump right into the 2000 page Michael Burlingame books or the ridiculous Carl Sandburg mythical epic (though I think I will get to both in time).
Hallowed Ground: A Walk at Gettsyburg
For all my growing up in Virginia, I haven’t actually spent that much time visiting battlefields. I think not being able to drive was part of that when I was a kid, and that my parents weren’t into reading about the Civil War either. One thing for me is that I don’t have that solemnity that a lot of people associate with spaces like that. I also don’t have a great sense of picturing battlefields that way. I tend to find accounts of them more compelling and comprehensible in part because like Sherman says in his memoirs, not one account of any event can capture exactly what happens in them. I also have almost no knowledge or training of military strategy or tactics. A complaint about George Washington as a battle commander is that he often just waited until he had overwhelming force before he would commit to an action, and I think I would do the same. In video games, this is almost always my strategy, and I am not good at committing to losses as part of a strategy.
In this short work, James M McPherson visits the Gettysburg battlefield site and does a few things with his visit. He gives his impression of what went on at the battle, telling some version of the history and dispelling some of the myths and rumors. He also walks the site and looks at various of the features involved. He also discusses the preservation efforts. For all the not really picturing or understanding of battlefields afterward, I do support the preservation of those spaces.
