Before he was a lawyer, before he was president, before he was a legend… Abraham Lincoln was just a guy who knew how to stand up for his friends and win over a crowd.
After the Black Hawk War, Lincoln returned to New Salem with a growing reputation and a nomination for the Illinois State Legislature. His military service had lasted just three months, but it left a strong impression on the people around him.
His first campaign speech was set for Pappsville, about eleven miles west of Springfield. But before Lincoln could speak, a fight broke out in the crowd. Not a political one. A real one. Fists. Elbows. Chaos. Lincoln saw one of his friends getting roughed up. That didn’t sit right. He didn’t hesitate—he jumped in.
Leaping off the stage, he pushed through the crowd, found the man who wouldn’t back down, and—according to the story—“grabbed him by the nape of the neck and the seat of his breeches, tossing him ‘ten or twelve feet easily.’” [1]
Then, as if nothing had happened, Lincoln climbed up onto the platform and began:
“Gentlemen and Fellow-Citizens, I presume you all know who I am. I am humble Abraham Lincoln…”
It’s such a Lincoln moment—loyal, direct, and a little bit theatrical. He cleared the stage, then owned it. No fuss. All business. A little bruising. A lot of charisma.
From the archives of Abraham Lincoln, Storyteller.
Mac
📚 Works Cited
[1] Browne, Francis F. (1913) The Every-day Life of Abraham Lincoln. Chicago, IL : Browne & Howell Co. p. 41.
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