10 Facts: Abraham Lincoln
February 12, 1809 - April 15, 1865
Abraham Lincoln was the President of the United States during the Civil War and one of the great figures in American history. Expand your knowledge and appreciation of Lincoln's legacy with these amazing facts.
Fact #1: The young Abraham Lincoln described himself as “a piece of floating driftwood.â€
The second child of Thomas and Nancy Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809 in a one-room log cabin. In Abraham’s youth the family moved frequently, trying to stay one step ahead of financial trouble and illness, before eventually settling down in Coles County, Illinois. Along the way, Lincoln became known for his physical strength as well as his formidable self-education. At the age of 21, he left home and canoed to New Salem, Illinois, where he signed on to a local riverboat firm. After a short stint on the western rivers, a shorter stint as manager of a general store, and service as a militia captain during the Black Hawk Wars, he made his first run for a seat on the Illinois General Assembly, which he lost. In 1834, he won his second General Assembly election and served four terms as a member of the Whig Party while taking up the practice of law in Springfield. In 1842, after a two-year engagement marked by one cancelled wedding, Lincoln married a 23-year old woman named Mary Todd.
https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/10-facts-abraham-lincoln
