HAPTER XVI

THE CIVIL WAR

ABRAHAM LINCOLN

It was thought by many that the Compromise of 1850 would put an end to the
bitter and violent feeling over the spread of slavery, but it did not. For
in the North the opposition to its extension into new States became so
powerful that in five years there had grown up a great political
party--the Republican party--whose main purpose was to oppose the spread
of slavery.

[Illustration: Abraham Lincoln.]

One of its ablest and most inspiring leaders was Abraham Lincoln. He was
born in a rough cabin in Kentucky, February 12, 1809. When he was seven
years old, the family moved to Indiana, and settled about eighteen miles
north of the Ohio River. The journey to their new home was very tedious
and lonely, for in some places they had to cut a roadway through the
forest. It took them three days to travel the last eighteen miles.

Having arrived safely in November, all set vigorously to work to provide a
shelter against the winter. The seven-year old boy was healthy, rugged,
and active, and from early morning till late evening he worked with his
father, chopping trees and cutting poles and boughs for their "camp," the
rude shelter in which they were to live until spring.

This "camp" was a mere shed, only fourteen feet square and open on one
side. It was built of poles lying one upon another and had a thatched roof
of boughs and leaves. As there was no chimney, there could be no fire
within the enclosure, and it was necessary to keep one burning all the
time just in front of the open side.

[Illustration: Lincoln's Birthplace.]

During this first winter in the wild woods of Indiana the little boy must
have lived a very busy life. There was much to do in building the cabin
which was to take the place of the "camp," and in cutting down trees and
making a clearing for the corn-planting of the coming spring.

After spending the winter in the "camp," the Lincoln family, in the
following spring, moved into the newly built log cabin. This had no
windows, and no floor except the bare earth. There was an opening on one
side, which was used as a doorway, but there was no door, nor was there so
much as an animal's skin to keep out the rain or the snow or to protect
the family from the cold wind.

In this rough abode the rude and simple furniture was very much like what
we have already seen in the cabins of the Tennessee settlers. For chairs
there was the same kind of three-legged st