Polk County observer. (Monmouth, Polk County, Or.) 1888-1927, 1914-02-10
"REMINISCENCES
OF LINCOLN
BIRTHDAY WILL BE OBSERVED
AS A LEGAL HOLIDAY IN
OREGON FOR THE FIRST TIME
The Martyred President an Import
ant Feature in the Early History
of Oregon.

Fred Vincent writes the folowin,
interesting story:
Thursday, February 18th, is th'
105th anniversary of Abraham Lin
coins birth, and Oregon for the frs
time will observe it as legal holi
day. In response to pressure of pub
lie opinion, the last Legislature pass
ed an act, so declaring it.
Oregon as a territory and as 9
state, played prominent part in the
life of Lincoln. A decade before he
was elected president of the United
States, he was appointed governor of
what was then Oregon territory, and
would have accepted save for the
reason that Mrs. Lincoln objected
strongly to living on the frontier.
Had he accepted the position offered
him by President Taylor in 1850, he
would have been Oregon s second ter
ritorial governor.
But while Oregon, the territory,
lost Lincoln as governor, Oregon,
the state, in turn was largely respon-
sible in giving him the Republican
nomination for president in 1860.
Oregon was admitted to the union
February 18th, 1859, in the face of
opposition on the part of the Republi-
can congressman, under the leader
ship of Senator Wilson, of Maine,
backed by Horace Greedy, editor of
the New York Tribune.
They feared that Oregon might
swell the Democratic majority in the
senate. At the preceding session.
0regon's application for statehood
had been refused. But in 1850, Eli
Thayer, member of congress from
the Worcester district of Massachu-
sets determined to carry on the
fight for the western territory. He
won! Admission to the union of
states was granted and as a result,
Oregon was allowed three delegates
to the Republican convention at Chi
cago, in May of 1860. !
Greedy Represents Oregon.
At that time it cost $1,000 to make
the trip from Oregon to Chicago and
the regularly appointed party dele
gates for this reason remained at
home.
Meantime Horace Greeley in New
York had been bested by the forces
backing William Seward, in a fight
for the position of party delegate.
Seward was the chief candidate for
the presidential nomination and Lin
coin had hardly been mentioned.
The convention was soon to con-
vene when the Oregon delegates de-
cided to give Greeley their proxies.
This gave the editor his coveted op-
portunity. An inveterate enemy of
Seward, he went to Chicago, saw his
own candidate had no show and anxi-
Gus to defeat Seward, threw his in
fuence and the Oregon votes to Lin
coin and emerged victorious.
Had it not been for Greeley's ac-
tivity and the chance Oregon gave
him to work, it is generally admitted
that William Seward would have
been the party nominee. The rest is
history known to all.
On March 4th, 1861, Lincoln was
inaugurated president of the United
States, and in little more than
month, was calling for volunteers to
engage in a great civil war, which
for four years ragged, to the end that
a nation, "half slave and half free,"
was made whole again.
There was a number Of people IN
Portland and in Oregon who either
knew Lincoln personally or have seen
him during the stirring times of the
secession. Among them are Joseph
Buehtel, of Portland, one of the old
est pioneers of the state; C. A. Will
iams, assistant adjntant of the @. A.
r. department of Oregon; and A. E.
Borthwick, also of Portland.
The stories they tell concerning
him go far to illustrate the wonderful
character of the man, his great eour-i
age, simplicity wisdom and democ-
raey. 1