Abraham Lincoln Civil War Stories: A Review

This book authored and compiled by Joe Wheeler contains heartwarming stories about our most beloved president.

What a great book! I have read it many times and every time I read it I am inspired by the stories and history told in this book.

When Lincoln Passed is the story about the two times that Richard Trowbridge saw Abraham Lincoln. Trowbridge had come to America after the death of his parents in England. He was a relative of the queen of England and thought he was of a higher class than others and therefore deserved special privileges because of who he was. Abraham Lincoln rode with him on a stagecoach and advised him to “Serve like a king,” which Lincoln demonstrated what that was by hopping off the stagecoach and putting boards across the muddy ground for the other passengers to walk across.

A few years later after President Lincoln’s assassination, Richard Trowbridge watched the funeral train as Lincoln took his last journey back to his home town of Springfield Il.

“He was coming in a casket wrapped in flags, for he had been killed by an assassin’s bullet,” Richard Trowbridge said as he turned to his wife to mourn the fallen president, adding, “I shall never forget how he carried that board to the coach, I shall never forget that he told me always to serve like a king.”

“Years from now they’ll know that the greatest American of them all is now passing,” Trowbridge declared, an observation that has come to pass.

The well-known story of Dan who was running away from home because his dad had killed Dan’s dog without consulting with Dan after the dog had killed several sheep is included in this book. Turns out that Dan got tired and lay down to sleep and then Abraham Lincoln went out for a walk and came across Dan. Lincoln had been trying to decide whether he should pardon 24 soldiers who were to be shot for deserting the army.  Lincoln talked with Dan and came to an agreement with him that if he would forgive his father and return home he, Lincoln would forgive the 24 soldiers. Lincoln gave Dan a card that would give him admittance to the White House to see him. When Dan got home, he learned that his brother who was a soldier was to be shot for sleeping on duty. Dan and his mother went to see Lincoln and Lincoln pardoned Dan’s brother.

The book is filled with amazing stories that show how Lincoln was a true “servant President”.

I encourage you to get a copy and read it. If your local book store does not have it in stock you can order it from Amazon.com.