in temperament, and of
unflinching loyalty, he was long the genuine leader of the House. In
recalling the several members of that body he stands forth as the one
striking and dominant figure. Nor did his activity cease with the war;
he continued preeminent in the questions which immediately succeeded it,
so that the reconstruction of the country, without which our story would
be incomplete, finds its proper place in his biography. Therewith, I
think, the series reaches completion.

JOHN T. MORSE, JR.

September, 1898.

CONTENTS

I. THE RAW MATERIAL
II. THE START IN LIFE
III. LOVE; A DUEL; LAW, AND CONGRESS
IV. NORTH AND SOUTH
V. THE LINCOLN-DOUGLAS JOINT DEBATE
VI. ELECTION
VII. INTERREGNUM
VIII. THE BEGINNING OF WAR
IX. A REAL PRESIDENT, AND NOT A REAL BATTLE
X. THE FIRST ACT OF THE MCCLELLAN DRAMA
XI. MILITARY MATTERS OUTSIDE OF VIRGINIA
XII. FOREIGN AFFAIRS

ILLUSTRATIONS

ABRAHAM LINCOLN

From an original, unretouched negative, made in 1864, at the time he
commissioned Ulysses S. Grant Lieutenant-General and Commander of all
the armies of the Republic. It is said that this negative, with one of
General Grant, was made in commemoration of that event.

Autograph from the copy of the Gettysburg Address made by Lincoln for
the Soldiers' and Sailors' Fair at Baltimore, in 1864, and now in the
possession of Wm. J.A. Bliss, Esq., of that city.

The vignette of Lincoln's early home on Goose-Nest Prairie, near
Farmington, Ill., is from a drawing after a photograph. This log cabin
was built by Lincoln and his father in 1831.

LYMAN TRUMBULL

From a photograph by Brady in the Library of the State Department at
Washington.

Autograph from the Brady Register, owned by his nephew, Mr. Levin C.
Handy, Washington, D.C.

ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS

From a photograph by Brady in the Library of the State Department at
Washington.

Autograph from the Chamberlain collection, Boston Public Library.

EDWIN M. STANTON

From a photograph by Brady in the Library of the State Department at
Washington.

Autograph from the Chamberlain collection, Boston Public Library.

THE FIGHT BETWEEN THE MONITOR AND THE MERRIMAC

From the painting by W.F. Halsall in the Capitol at Washington.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN

CHAPTER I

THE RAW MATERIAL

Abraham Lincoln knew little concerning his progenitors, and rested well
content with the scantiness of