The Abraham Lincoln Companion is a fascinating collection of more than 100 primary source selections illustrating Abraham Lincolns life, presidency, and legacy. These documents include reminiscences and tributes by notable and ordinary Americans from Lincolns birth in 1809 until 1909, the centenary of his birth, in speeches, letters, essays, songs, poems, and memorials.

Table of Contents

• Foreword by Douglas L. Wilson George A. Lawrence Distinguished Service, Professor Emeritus of English, Lincoln Studies Center, Knox College
• Preface
• Part 1 - Early Life and Career
• Introduction
• 1-1 Abraham Lincoln’s Autobiographies
• 1-2 Osborn H. Oldroyd’s Summary of Lincoln’s Life
• 1-3 Stepmother Sarah Bush Johnston Lincoln on His Childhood
• 1-4 Stepsister Matilda Johnston Moore on Her Older Stepbrother
• 1-5 Cousin Dennis Hanks on Lincoln’s Early Life
• 1-6 John Hanks Reminisces about His Younger Cousin
• 1-7 Clarissa Tuft Vannattin Tells How Lincoln Helped Her Sister
• 1-8 Horace Greeley on Lincoln’s Education
• 1-9 James C. Ambrose on “Choosing Abe’ Captain”
• 1-10 Best Friend Joshua Speed on Lincoln’s Early Career
• 1-11 Fellow Lawyer and Friend Leonard Swett Recounts Two Versions of Meeting Lincoln
• 1-12 Hamilton Wright Mabie on Lincoln as a Man of Letters
• 1-13 “Oh, Why Should the Spirit of Mortal Be Proud?” by William Knox
• 1-14 “My Child-hood Home I See Again” by Abraham Lincoln
• 1-15 Correspondence between Joshua Speed and Lincoln about Their Marriages
• 1-16 Ida M. Tarbell on Lincoln’s Rise in National Stature
• 1-17 Correspondence between Grace Bedell and Lincoln about His Beard
• 1-18 Lincoln Says Farewell to the Citizens of Springfield
• Part 2 - The 16th President: Great Emancipator and Commander-in-Chief
• Introduction
• 2-1 James Russell Lowell on Lincoln as President
• 2-2 Nathaniel Hawthorne on Meeting Lincoln
• 2-3 “We are coming Father Abraham, or, Three hundred thousand more: inscribed to our volunteers” by James Sloan Gibbons
• 2-4 James Shrigley Recalls Lincoln Appointing Him Hospital Chaplain
• 2-5 Thomas T Eckert Remembers Lincoln at the War Department
• 2-6 The Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society Congratulates Lincoln on Emancipation
• 2-7 Frederick Douglass Recalls Emancipation Day
• 2-8 Correspondence between President Lincoln and the Chicago Sanitary Commission
• 2-9 Francis B. Carpenter on Painting The First Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation
• 2-10 James Abram Garfield on the Emancipation Proclamation
• 2-11 “The Emancipation Group” by John Greenleaf Whittier
• 2-12 E. W. Andrews Accompanies Lincoln to Gettysburg
• 2-13 Jacob Hoke on Lincoln at Gettysburg
• 2-14 Excerpt from “The Gettysburg Ode” by Bayard Taylor
• 2-15 James Speed Recalls Lincoln Discharging a Mother’s Sons from the Army
• 2-16 Harriet Beecher Stowe Shares Her Impressions of Lincoln
• 2-17 Sojourner Truth on Meeting Lincoln
• 2-18 Joshua Speed Remembers One of His Last Visits with Lincoln
• 2-19 Elizabeth Keckley Remembers Lincoln’s Second Inaugural
• 2-20 William H. Crook on Lincoln’s Trip to Richmond Near the War’s End
• 2-21 A News Account of Lincoln’s Visit to Richmond
• 2-22 Charles Carleton Coffin Describes the President’s Entry into Richmond
• 2-23 A Report on the “Ax Incident”
• Part 3 - The Man Behind the Legend
• Introduction
• 3-1 Elizabeth Keckley Describes Some Domestic Scenes
• 3-2 Noah Brooks and William H. Crook on Lincoln and Tad
• 3-3 Francis B. Carpenter Describes Lincoln’s Love of Shakespeare
• 3-4 Leonard Wells Volk on Sculpting Lincoln
• 3-5 “On the Life-Mask of Abraham Lincoln” by Richard Watson Gilder
• 3-6 David R. Locke Recounts Conversations with Lincoln
• 3-7 Henry Villard Describes Lincoln’s Storytelling
• 3-8 Albert B. Chandler on Lincoln’s Hair and Newsboys
• 3-9 Henry Clay Whitney Relates a Lincoln Quip about Weighty Men
• 3-10 Alexander K. McClure Shares Popular Anecdotes about Lincoln
• Part 4 - The Death of Lincoln
• Introduction
• 4-1 William H. Crook Remembers Lincoln’s Last Day
• 4-2 Walt Whitman Describes the Scene of the Assassination
• 4-3 Edwin M. Stanton Gives a First-Hand Account of Lincoln’s Assassination
• 4-4 Maunsell B. Field Describes the Night of Lincoln’s Death
• 4-5 Elizabeth Keckley on Hearing of His Death
• 4-6 “The Sorrow of the People” from the Chicago Tribune
• 4-7 Americans Recall Where They Were: Caroline Richards, Lucretia Mott, and Jane Addams
• 4-8 “The Death of Lincoln” by William Cullen Bryant
• 4-9 Eulogy by Ralph Waldo Emerson, April 19, 1865
• 4-10 Eulogy by Henry Ward Beecher, April 23, 1865
• 4-11 Eulogy by Phillips Brooks, April 23, 1865
• 4-12 Eulogy by Seth Sweetser, April 23, 1865
• 4-13 Eulogy by Matthew Simpson, May 4, 1865
• 4-14 Eulogy by Charles Sumner, June 1, 1865
• 4-15 From “Ode Recited at the Harvard Commemoration” by James Russell Lowell
• 4-16 Poems by Walt Whitman
• Part 5 - Tributes and Legacy
• Introduction
• 5-1 Remembrance by Mary Todd Lincoln
• 5-2 William H. Herndon Gives His Impressions of Lincoln’s Character
• 5-3 Horace Greeley on Lincoln’s Leadership
• 5-4 Tribute by Shelby M. Cullom
• 5-5 Tribute by Schuyler Colfax
• 5-6 Tribute by Frederick Douglass
• 5-7 Tribute by Ulysses S. Grant
• 5-8 William Tecumseh Sherman Recalls His Last Meeting with Lincoln
• 5-9 Tribute by Walt Whitman
• 5-10 Robert G. Ingersoll on Lincoln’s Legacy
• 5-11 Tribute by Lyman Abbott
• 5-12 “Abraham Lincoln” by Rose Terry Cooke
• 5-13 “Lincoln, the Man of the People” by Edwin Markham
• 5-14 “Lift Every Voice and Sing” by James Weldon Johnson
• 5-15 “Lincoln” by Paul Laurence Dunbar
• 5-16 Jonathan P. Dolliver on Lincoln’s Legacy
• 5-17 Mark Twain on Preserving Lincoln’s Birthplace
• 5-18 Tribute by Frederic Harrison
• 5-19 Tribute by Rutherford B. Hayes
• 5-20 Tribute by William McKinley
• 5-21 Tribute by Theodore Roosevelt
• Part 6 - Centennial Celebrations
• Introduction
• 6-1 “The Man of Peace” by Bliss Carman
• 6-2 Centennial Celebration in Chicago, Illinois: J. A. Macdonald
• 6-3 Centennial Celebration in Chicago, Illinois: Emil G. Hirsch
• 6-4 Centennial Celebration in Chicago, Illinois: A. J. Carey
• 6-5 Centennial Celebration in Chicago, Illinois: J. W. E. Bowen
• 6-6 Centennial Celebration in Chicago, Illinois: Frederick
• 6-7 Centennial Celebration in Springfield, Illinois: Jean Adrian Jusserand
• 6-8 Centennial Celebration in Peoria, Illinois: Kogoro Takahira
• 6-9 Centennial Celebration in Bloomington, Indiana: Adlai E. Stevenson
• 6-10 Centennial Celebration in Hodgenville, Kentucky: James Grant Wilson
• 6-11 Centennial Celebration in New York, New York: Joseph Hodges Choate
• 6-12 Centennial Celebration in New York, New York: Booker T. Washington
• 6-13 Centennial Celebration in New York, New York: Chauncey M. Depew
• 6-14 Centennial Celebration in Washington, D.C.: Joaquim Nabuco
• 6-15 Centennial Celebration in Manchester, England: Church Howe
• 6-16 “Lincoln on Pennies” by Carl Sandburg
• Part 7 - A Selection of Lincoln’s Speeches and Writings
• Introduction
• 7-1 Speech at Peoria, Illinois, October 16, 1854
• 7-2 “House Divided” Speech at Springfield, Illinois, June 16, 1858
• 7-3 Speech at Cooper Institute, New York, February 27, 1860
• 7-4 First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1861
• 7-5 Letter to Horace Greeley, August 22, 1862
• 7-6 Emancipation Proclamation, January 1, 1863
• 7-7 Thanksgiving Proclamation, October 3, 1863
• 7-8 Gettysburg Address, November 19, 1863
• 7-9 Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1865
• Photo and Illustration Credits
• Chronology
• Bibliography
• Contact Information for Lincoln Groups: Associations, Educational Institutes, Landmarks and Historic Sites, Libraries, Museums, and Other Web Resources Related to Abraham Lincoln