President Lincoln's Paltry Eating Habits.

The President rose early; his sleep was light and capricious. In the summer, when he lived at the Soldiers' Home[1], he would take his frugal breakfast and ride into town in time to be at his desk at 8 o'clock, writes Colonel John Hay. 

He began to receive visits nominally at 10 o'clock. Long before that hour struck, the doors were besieged by anxious crowds, through whom the people of importance, senators and members of Congress, elbowed their way after the fashion which still survives. On days when the cabinet met, Tuesdays and Fridays, the hour of noon closed the morning interviews. On other days it was the President's custom at about that hour to order the doors to be opened and all who were waiting to be admitted.

At lunchtime, he had to run the gantlet through the crowds who filled the corridors between his office and the rooms at the west end of the house occupied by the Lincoln family. The afternoon wore away in much the same manner as the morning; late in the day, he usually drove out for an hour's airing; at 6 o'clock, he dined.

Recreated Kitchen in Lincoln's House on Eighth & Jackson Streets, Springfield, Illinois.

He was one of the most abstemious (non-self-indulgent) of men; the pleasures of the table had few attractions for him. His breakfast was an egg and a cup of coffee; at lunch, he rarely took more than a biscuit and a glass of milk and a plate of seasonal fruit; at dinner, he ate sparingly of one or two courses. 

Every so often, especially on special occasions or when having dinner company, Mary Lincoln would make Abraham's Favorite Gingerbread and Topping for dessert. Authentic Recipe. 

Lincoln drank little or no wine, not that he always remained on principle a total abstiner, as he was a part of his early life in the fervor of the "Washingtonian" movement. Lincoln didn't care for any wine or liquor and never used tobacco.

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The Washingtonian Movement (Washingtonians, Washingtonian Temperance Society or Washingtonian Total Abstinence Society) was a 19th-century temperance fellowship founded on April 2, 1840, by six alcoholics (William Mitchell, David Hoss, Charles Anderson, George Steer, Bill M'Curdy, and Tom Campbell) at Chase's Tavern on Liberty Street in Baltimore, Maryland. The idea was that by relying on each other, sharing their alcoholic experiences, and creating an atmosphere of conviviality, they could keep each other sober. Total abstinence from alcohol (teetotalism) was their goal. 

Abraham Lincoln was no foodie. He was almost entirely indifferent to food except for liking apples and hot black coffee. An often-cited quote has also been attributed to him: "If this is coffee, please bring me some tea; but if this is tea, please bring me some coffee."

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Prices, at the time of Lincoln's assassination in 1865, were considered outrageously high. Bulk butter was sold for 30¢ a pound, and coffee, when found, was 21¢ ($3.88 today) a pound.  Ham was unusually high, 28¢ a pound, and turkey sold for 30¢. Salt was sold by the bushel at 50¢. A barrel of crackers, priced at $6.50 ($120.00 today), was expected to last an entire season.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.

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[1] Today, the Armed Forces Retirement Home in Washington, D.C., 340 Rock Creek Church Road N.W., Washington, D.C., USA

Abraham Lincoln Pleads His Case as a Defendant at 18 years old.

Abraham Lincoln worked on a ferryboat near Posey’s Landing on the Ohio River in Spencer County, Indiana, in the fall and winter of 1826-27. In the spring, Lincoln built a small flatboat for his own use at Bates’ Landing, about a mile and a half downriver. He intended to earn money by carrying produce down the river.

This business languished, however, and Lincoln, his meager savings gone, turned to carrying passengers to steamboats in the middle of the river. One day he was motioned to the Kentucky shore by brothers John T. and Len Dill, who were operating a ferryboat nearby.

Two brothers who lived on the Kentucky side of the river, John T. and Len Dill, had the ferry rights across the Ohio River from a point opposite Anderson River. One day Lincoln was motioned to the Kentucky shore by the brothers. A tense confrontation occurred as the brothers accused Lincoln of infringing on their business. Lincoln’s obvious strength may have encouraged a legal rather than a physical resolution. In any event, Lincoln and the brothers turned to Samuel Pate, a farmer and justice of the peace.

The Dill brothers accused Lincoln of interfering with their legally established business. Lincoln admitted to conveying passengers to the middle of the river. Lincoln argued that he had carried no one who was a potential customer of the Dills’ ferry.

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The pertinent clause of Kentucky law read: "... if any person whatsoever shall, for reward, set any person over any river or creek, whereupon public ferries are appointed, he or she so offending shall forfeit and pay five pounds current money, for every such offence, one moiety to the ferry-keeper nearest the place where such offence shall be committed, the other moiety to the informer; and if such ferry-keeper informs, he shall have the whole penalty, to be recovered with costs."

The evidence presented revealed that Lincoln had limited his operations to depositing his passengers on board steamers in the middle of the river and that he had never ferried any of them clear across the Ohio River.

Judge Samuel Pate, narrowly interpreting the act from William Littell’s Statute Law of Kentucky, “respecting the Establishment of Ferries,” ruled that inasmuch as there was no occasion cited on which Lincoln had "set any person over [shore to shore] any river or creek." Lincoln, however, had taken passengers only to the middle of the river. Case dismissed.

This case, the first in which Lincoln appeared as a defendant, led to a friendship between him and Samuel Pate, which, some have speculated, may have stimulated his initial interest in the law.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.