Lesser known interesting facts about Abraham Lincoln

We all have known, loved and adored the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln.Ever wondered what is the origin of the idiom ‘Honest Abe’ or who is the only President of the to have a patent to his name? Well, in this article you would be surprised to hear some less known yet extremely surprising trivia about the leader who won all our hearts!

1.Lincoln established Thanksgiving as a national holiday

Expressing his gratitude for a pivotal Union Army victory at Gettysburg and amidst a raging civil war, President Lincoln established a “Proclamation for Thanksgiving”. He announced that the nation will celebrate an official Thanksgiving holiday on November 26, 1863 and fourth Thursday of every November thereafter would be considered an official U.S. holiday of Thanksgiving.

2. His forthrightness and honesty earned him the nickname “Honest Abe”

The etymology of the phrase dates back to Lincoln’s quality of doubtless virtuous character and integrity.Legend has it that once while working as a store clerk, he mistakenly took six cents too much from a customer and that very night he walked three miles to return the customer’s money. The public could recognize these traits from afar and it paved the way for his presidency.On one occasion, he said this (Luke, Chapter 16): “If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities.”

3. He was a good wrestler

We’re all aware of Lincoln’s political skills and his abilities as a writer and public speaker.However, you might not know that Lincoln also had a surprising career as a national wrestling champ.With a stature of more than 6 feet and exceptional grappling talent,he wrestled for 12 years in his youth in New Salem, Illinois.His exploits weren’t like the ones that we see in flamboyant wrestling tournaments today.However, he’s known to have lost only 1 match among a total of 300 and was also on his way to being inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.

4. He’s the only President in the history of U.S. to have a patent

Upon hearing Lincoln’s name many names and images flash to the imagination, however, one that does not strike is that of an inventor-it’s astonishing to know that he had invented a device to free steamboats that ran aground. As a young man, he made river and lake expeditions.At least twice his boats ran aground obstacles like sandbars on the Mississippi and Great lakes. His idea was to equip boats with inflatable bellows of “India rubber cloth, or other suitable water-proof fabric” levered alongside the hull to buoy and lift boats over shoals and obstructions in a riverto buoy and lift boats over shoals and obstructions in a river. Even though this invention was never published, it still marked an amazing addition to transportation technology. His No. 6,469, was granted on May 22, 1849, for a device for “Buoying Vessels Over Shoals.”

5. Lincoln’s body was moved 17 times after it was “laid to rest”

Grave robbers had attempted to steal Lincoln’s corpse. Until the completion of the Lincoln Tomb, the former President was buried at Oak Ridge Cemetery near his home in May 1865. Ironically, on the morning of his assassination, signed legislation creating the U.S. Secret Service to capture counterfeiters as he had signed a bill establishing national currency. Benjamin Boyd, the best engraver in the counterfeit business was arrested and captured by Secret Service and sentenced to prison. He worked for a Chicago gang run by James “Big Jim” Kinealy who’s business and now one of the best employees was wrecked. So he made a plan to hold the corpse for a ransom of $200,000 and obtain the release of the gang’s best counterfeiter from prison. Secret Service which came in Lincoln’s use only after his death infiltrated the gang and his body was moved seventeen times and his coffin opened five times before finally resting in peace in an unmarked grave and eventually encased in a steel cage and entombed under 10 feet of concrete.

6. He was an avid animal lover

Along with having two pet goats and taking great pride in their affection for him, Lincoln was also a cat lover so much that when asked if her husband had a hobby, Mary Todd Lincoln replied, “cats.”Like many young boys during the time he also had a phase of performing random acts of cruelty to animals.However, he outgrew this phase and later in his adult life turnned out to be a very sensitive man.He would preach sermons to his family against cruelty to animals, “contending that an ant’s life was, to it, as sweet as ours.”

7.He survived the death of his mother at a fragile age

When Lincoln was just 9 years old, his mother Nancy passed away leaving his 11-year-old sister Sarah to take care of the household. Nancy had died as a result of a mysterious “Milk Sickness” which had swept across Southern Indiana. Ten years later, his sister also passed away in childbirth complications, devastating him.

It was later learned that the strange disease his mothers and many died of was due to drinking tainted milk from a cow that had ingested poisonous white snakeroots.

8. He wasn’t fond of drinking or smoking

Lincoln was a man of humble interests and simple hobbies. He never had alcohol, smoked cigarettes or chewing tobacco. Alcohol made him feel “flabby and undone.”

9.He failed in the first business of his career

Lincoln was a man of humble and poor beginnings.His life wasn’t one of bed of roses marked with fame and success, he suffered his share of failures and setbacks as well.When he had settled in the village of New Salem he worked as a boatman, store clerk, surveyor, and militia soldier during the Black Hawk War. Then finally in1832, Lincoln joined with a partner, Denton Offutt, in the purchase of a general store on credit. in New Salem. However, the business struggled and Lincoln eventually sold his share

10.He wasn’t popular among the ladies!

He once quoted, “A woman is the only thing I am afraid of that I know will not hurt me.”, As a young man in Springfield, he’s known to have lacking social graces as well and even being called as “thin as a beanpole and as ugly as a scarecrow!” by a girl. Even though a public charmer and a politician of magnetic charisma who had the power to stir emotions in the crowd with his remarkable speeches, his sister-in-law said he “Could not hold a lengthy conversation with a lady—was not sufficiently educated & intelligent in the female line to do so.”