The star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1908-1909, 1909-02-06
UNCLE ABE" AS
SEEN BY G. A. R.
MEN IN NEWARK
James o. Smith Gives His I'M
pressiOns of the Great
Emancipation.
OTHER OLD WARRIORS
TALK OF MARTYR
HOmliness and Kindness Most
Noticeable Traits of War
President.

James o. Smith, a veteran and q
hustling Grand Army man. never talked
with President Lincoln, but he saw him
in Washington and at army reviews
several times. He is so ardent an adj
mirer of Lincoln as the model American
patriot and the preserver of the Union
that when he goes to Gettysburg with
Lincoln Post each year he recites the
famous Gettysburg address on the
battlefield.
Mr.. Smith held the gavel successfully
in the Newark Common Council at n
time, but he can't hold his enthusiasm
whenever and wherever a proposition
Is made to honor Lincoln's name and
memory.
Il had a good look at Uncle Abe, as
We called President Lincoln in the
army, when he reviewed us at Fall
mouth, and l studied him carefully be-
cause of the attempt made on his life
by a mob in Baltimore on his way to
be i~naugurated, and because, though 1
was young, l had heard some of our
officers say that a man of iron will and
sound judgment was needed to guide
the ship of state through the stormy
sea of rebellion, the great crisis of our
national existence.
Il noticed MI. Lincoln, who was on
a large horse, was very tall, angular,
bony and spare in frame, and that he
had the saddest, gloomiest face l had
eve seen. But l noticed particularly
his lar ge and deep-set black eyes, when
he looked at us soldier boys in passing.
The eyes had a troubled look, and yet
there was a kindly expression in them
that all the men in our company spoke
of after the review. Some of the older
men feared he might not be firm enough
in the crucial time of the war, but he
proved that he was the man for the
occasion, and every American should
be proud to honor his memory at all
times.
Rugged, Homely Face.
His rugged and homely face, with
high cheek bones, large but firm mouth
and his loo~se-jointed limbs, with large
hands and feet, gave us soldier boys
an idea of what type of men they were
who had cleared the forests of the great
Western section of our country for the
march of progress. Though he was
called the rail splitter to me he
seemed almost a demigod. and 1 told
him second only to Washington as a
great American"
Larry Morris, custodian and janitor
of Lincoln Post rooms, is another en-
thusiastic admirer of Lincoln, whom he
saw at army reviews. He had a good
look at Mr.. Lincoln at the review at
Falmouth, after the battle of Anteitam,
when General Mcclellan was relieved
Of the command of the Army of the
Potomac the second time and was sue
ceeded by General Burnside, who met
his Waterloo at Fredericksburg. Mr..
Lincoln and Little Mac, as General NC
Clellan was called by the soldiers, rode
along the lines together, and the
soldiers cheered vigorously for both IN
turn.
A member of the staff of THE EVE
MING STAR saw Mr.. Lincoln very
early one morning when the latter was
on his way to Washington to be
gurated 1t was at the New York Cen
trail railroad station in Utica, N T.,
and THE EVENING STAR mar was
about eight years old at the time. When
the special train entered the station
and stopped Mr.. Lincoln came out on
the rear platform of the last car and
bowed to the cheering of people. The
boy. who had wriggled to the front of
the crowd neal the car, was lifted by
Captain James McQuade. of the crack
City Guard. who vas afterward a col
onel and a general in the war, to save
him from being crushed by the surging
throng Of men anxious to shake hands
with Mr.. Lincoln.
Lifts Up Boy.
As Captain McQuade lifted the boy
Congressman Roscoe Conkling, who
stood on the car platform beside Mr..
Lincoln, took him from Captain Nc
Quade and turned to Mr.. Lincoln, who
held the lad up and looking at the
crowd Of cheering people, said:
sit Is possible, my friends, that this
American boy may yet be President of
our country, for l was a very poor bog
in the wilderness of the far West and
had to work hard and educate myself
by the light of a blazing log in a small
cabin. 1 ask every patriot to pray that
the Union nay be preserved and peace
restored to our distracted country"
The boy remembered what Mr.. Lin
coin said because he had to repeat it
to his mother and friends when he re-
turned to his home in a country village
and in the old red schoolhouse OF the
bank of Oriskany creek. He was made
much of by the men and women of the
little village and by other boys because
he had seen Mr.. Lincoln and had been
held in his arms. Students at Hamil-
ton College, on the big hin above Clin-
ton, made the boy their mascot and
came pretty near spelling him at their
frolics.