Triangle Histories: The Civil War -- Abraham Lincoln

by Deborah Kops

This book about Abraham Lincoln is very informative. I was particularly interested to read about the birth of the Republican party in this country -- "Free speech, free homes, free territory, protection to American Industry" as it says on an early campaign poster. Lincoln is known as the President who waged the Civil War, but it was news to me that it was actually his election to the presidency that prompted South Carolina's secession in 1861. His victory was due, in part, to division among the Northern and Southern Democrats, since both factions ran separate tickets. There was even a third party, the pro-slavery Constitutional Unionists. Although it doesn't say so in this book, I believe that Lincoln won the most votes without having won a majority. In any event, the Southern states had clearly declared their intention never to accept him as their leader.

I think this book strikes a very good balance between historical detail and personal history. It includes many fine illustrations, and seems to be a very good source of information about this period.

Maya says:

Lincoln met his wife, Mary, in 1840, and married her two years later. Their son, William Lincoln, died of typhoid fever when he was only eleven years old. He took his last breath at 5:00 with his parents at his bedside. Another son was called Tad, because when he was a baby his head was big like a tadpole's. Lincoln used to pull his sons around in a wagon. He would pull the wagon with one hand, and the other hand had book. Once he got so absorbed in his book that he didn't notice a child had fallen out of the wagon.

Long before he became President, Lincoln studied law. He had one partner who left and so they dissolved their partnership. Lincoln and his next partner got an apprentice named Billy. Later, when Lincoln dissolved his second partnership, he took Billy as a partner and he never dissolved that partnership.

Abraham Lincoln ended slavery in the United States. He was President during the Civil War. One time a battle was fought very close to Washington. He watched it from a balcony of the White House and didn't pay attention to the bullets whizzing past his head.

He was assassinated while watching a play. His assassin was less than two feet away from Lincoln when he shot him. The policeman who was supposed to be guarding Lincoln had gone somewhere else. Later, the assassin was found hiding in a barn and was shot to death by soldiers. Abraham Lincoln was buried on a hill.

Abraham Lincoln didn't deserve to be killed. He was a great man to end slavery in this country.


Ziad says:

Abraham Lincoln was a president who grew up in a state where slavery was outlawed. His father was against slavery. Lincoln lived on a farm. When he grew old enough, he left. He worked in a shipping business, helping sail some cargo down the Mississippi River. One time, the ship began to sink and Lincoln moved the cargo from the back to the front so the ship tilted and the water poured out.

Before he became President, he attended a ball where he met Mary Todd. He married her two years later. They had three children. Their first-born was the only one who lived to adulthood.

During the Civil War, John Wilkes Booth and a group of men were trying to kidnap Lincoln and hold him hostage. Lincoln didn't know that he was constantly eluding them by last-minute changes to his schedule.

At the beginning of the war, the Union seemed to be losing. The Union general McClellan overestimated the Confederate forces and didn't attack when he should have. The Union might have lost if it wasn't for Sherman's victory over Atlanta and his march to the sea, destroying anything in his way that could help the Confederates. In December, Sherman wrote to Lincoln, "As a Christmas present, I present to you the city of Savannah."

When the Confederate capitol, Richmond was captured, General Lee surrendered.

After the war, John Wilkes Booth shot Lincoln at Ford Theater. Lincoln died the next day.

Many people say Abraham Lincoln was the best President of the United States. He fought for human rights and accepted blacks as equals at a time when many others didn't.

In Their Own Words: Harriet Tubman

by George Sullivan

This book is part of a series for children that uses primary sources when possible. Although Harriet Tubman didn't leave writing of her own behind, two biographies published during her lifetime contain many quotations. They are:

Scenes in the Life of Harriet Tubman (1869) and
Harriet: The Moses of her People (1886)

by Sarah Bradford, a schoolteacher who was Harriet's close friend.

Going back over this book with Ziad and Maya, I realize that I didn't retain all that much of what I read. As I glance through it the second time, though, I remember how I was struck by a few things: Harriet's early life, not in the deep south, but Maryland, considered to be a less hellish place for slaves than the Deep South, is nonetheless terrible to read about. After her first escape, the Fugitive Slave laws required her to conduct all other escaping slaves all the way to Canada, where they could not be apprehended and sent back into slavery. Harriet was also connected with Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, just as the abolitionist movement became intertwined with the struggle for women's suffrage.

I've heard that children's books are a good way to become informed about subjects, since they tend to be concise in their presentation of information. This book certainly fills the bill in that regard, while being interesting and well-written to boot. I think I'll read it again and see if I can remember more this time.


Maya says:

I thought that all slaves had to be in slavery, but I learned that the slave master's will could free them and some slaves could be freed. I learned that because John Tubman, who Harriet married, was a freed slave. Harriet went to a lawyer who read the will of her mother's first owner. Harriet's mother should have been freed she turned 45, but instead she had been traded to another master. Now it was too late, and no one would listen to Harriet's claim, even though Harriet felt that legally she should be free.

Harriet told her husband that she wanted to escape, but he told her that he would tell on her if she tried. Then Harriet tried to escape with her brothers, but they got scared and turned back. Finally she escaped by herself. She became part of the Underground Railroad and helped other slaves escape. Her master offered a reward for her return.

One time she was waiting for a train and some people thought they recognized her. When she heard them talking, she opened a book and stared at it like she was read, and the people said she couldn't have been who they thought she was because slave couldn't read. I thought that was clever of her, because the really couldn't read, even after she was free.

During the Civil War, she worked in a hospital and also served as a spy. I really admire her and think that she was a great person.


Ziad says:

Harriet Tubman was slave who ran away and became a conductor on the Underground Railroad. She conducted more people to freedom than anybody else. She knew John Brown, the white man who attacked a warehouse full of weapons and tried to free slaves, but failed. She had a dream about him being killed before he was hanged. Harriet was impressed because John Brown died for slaves when he could have done nothing about it.

She worked as a spy and nurse during the Civil War. AFter the Union won, when she tried to take a train, the conductor put her in the box car with the animals. She felt that the Union hadn't really won, if people still treated black people so badly.

Harriet Tubman was very brave.