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ABRAHAM LINCOLN (1809-1865)

Book: The Beginner's American History Chapter: XXIX | Abraham Lincoln Author: D. H. Montgomery The tall man from Illinois making his first speech in Congress; how he wrote his name; what the people called him. Not many days before gold was found at Sutter's saw-mill in California (1848), a tall, awkward-looking man from Illinois was making his first speech in Congress. At that time he generally wrote his name A. Lincoln, but after he had become President of the United States, he often wrote it out in full, Abraham Lincoln. << Previous Chapter | Full Book | Next>> The plain country people of Illinois, who knew all about him, liked best to call him by the title they had first given him,—" Honest Abe Lincoln ," or, for short, " Honest Abe ." Let us see how he got that name. The Lincoln family move to Indiana; "Abe" helps his father build a new home; what it was like. Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12th, 1809, in a log shanty on a l...

CAPTAIN J. A. SUTTER (1803-1880)

Book: The Beginner's American History Chapter: XXVIII | Captain J. A. Sutter Author: D. H. Montgomery Captain Sutter and his fort; how the captain lived. At the time when Professor Morse sent his first message by telegraph from Washington to Baltimore (1844), Captain J. A. Sutter, an emigrant from Switzerland, was living near the Sacramento River in California. << Previous Chapter | Full Book | Next Chapter >> California then belonged to Mexico. The governor of that part of the country had given Captain Sutter an immense piece of land; and the captain had built a fort at a point where a stream which he named the American River joins the Sacramento River. People then called the place Sutter's Fort, but to-day it is Sacramento City, the capital of the great and rich state of California. In his fort Captain Sutter lived like a king. He owned land enough to make a thousand fair-sized farms; he had twelve thousand head of cattle, more than ten thousand sheep, and over ...

CAPTAIN ROBERT GRAY (1755-1806)

Book: The Beginner's American History Chapter: XXVII | Captain Robert Gray Author: D. H. Montgomery Captain Gray goes to the Pacific coast to buy furs; he first carries the Stars and Stripes round the globe. Not long after the war of the Revolution had come to an end some merchants of Boston sent out two vessels to Vancouver* Island, on the northwest coast of America. The names of the vessels were the Columbia and the Lady Washington, and they sailed round Cape Horn into the Pacific. Captain Robert Gray went out as commander of one of these vessels*. He was born in Rhode Island* and he had fought in one of our war-ships in the Revolution. << Previous Chapter | Full Book | Next Chapter >> Captain Gray was sent out by the Boston merchants to buy furs from the Indians on the Pacific coast. He had no difficulty in getting all he wanted, for the savages were glad to sell them for very little. In one case a chief let the captain have two hundred sea-otter skins such as are ...

GENERAL SAM HOUSTON (1793-1863)

Book: The Beginner's American History Chapter: XXVI | General Sam Houston Author: D. H. Montgomery Sam Houston and the Indians; Houston goes to live with the Indians. When General Jackson whipped the Indians in Alabama, a young man named Sam Houston* fought under Jackson and was terribly wounded. It was thought that the brave fellow would certainly die, but his strong will carried him through, and he lived to make himself a great name in the southwest. << Previous Chapter | Full Book | Next Chapter >> Although Houston fought the Indians, yet, when a boy, he was very fond of them, and spent much of his time with them in the woods of Tennessee. Long after he became a man, this love of the wild life led by the red men in the forest came back to him. While Houston was governor of Tennessee (1829) he suddenly made up his mind to leave his home and his friends, go across the Mississippi River, and take up his abode with an Indian tribe in that part of the country. The chief...

PROFESSOR MORSE (1791-1872)

Book: The Beginner's American History Chapter: XXV | Professor Samuel F. B. Morse Author: D. H. Montgomery How they sent the news of the completion of the Erie Canal to New York City; Franklin and Morse. The Erie Canal, in the state of New York, connects the Hudson River at Albany with Lake Erie at Buffalo. It is the greatest work of the kind in America, and was completed many years ago. When the water was let into the canal from the lake, the news was flashed from Buffalo to New York City by a row of cannon, about five miles apart, which were fired as rapidly as possible one after the other. << Previous Chapter | Full Book | Next Chapter >> The first cannon was fired at Buffalo at ten o'clock in the morning; the last was fired at New York at half-past eleven. In an hour and a half the sound had travelled over five hundred miles. Everybody said that was wonderfully quick work; but to-day we could send the news in less than a minute. The man who found out how to do...

GENERAL ANDREW JACKSON (1767-1845)

Book: The Beginner's American History Chapter: XXIV | General Andrew Jackson Author: D. H. Montgomery Andrew Jackson and the War of 1812; his birthplace; his school; wrestling-matches; firing off the gun. The greatest battle of our second war with England—the War of 1812—was fought by General Andrew Jackson. << Previous Chapter | Full Book | Next Chapter >> He was the son of a poor emigrant who came from the North of Ireland and settled in North Carolina*. When Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence in 1776, Andrew was nine years old, and his father had long been dead. He was a tall, slender, freckled-faced, barefooted boy, with eyes full of fun; the neighbors called him "Mischievous little Andy." He went to school in a log hut in the pine woods; but he learned more things from what he saw in the woods than from the books he studied in school. He was not a very strong boy, and in wrestling some of his companions could throw him three times ou...

GENERAL WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON (1773-1841)

Book: The Beginner's American History Chapter: XXIII | General William Henry Harrison Author: D. H. Montgomery War with the Indians; how the Indians felt about being forced to leave their homes; the story of the log. The year 1811, in which the first steamboat went west, a great battle was fought with the Indians. The battle-ground was on the Tippecanoe River, in what is now the state of Indiana. << Previous Chapter | Full Book | Next Chapter >> The Indians fought because they wanted to keep the west for themselves. They felt as an old chief did, who had been forced to move many times by the white men. One day a military officer came to his wigwam to tell him that he and his tribe must go still further west. The chief said, General, let's sit down on this log and talk it over. So they both sat down. After they had talked a short time, the chief said, Please move a little further that way; I haven't room enough. The officer moved along. In a few minutes the chi...