Some amazing facts about one of the nation's better known presidents.
His favorite food was fricasseed chicken.
He began growing his beard after 11 year old Grace Bedell wrote to him: "I have got four brothers and part of them will vote for you anyway and if you let your whiskers grow I will try and get the rest of them to vote for you; you would look a great deal better for your face is so thin."
He was very strong. When he was young, he was almost never beaten at wrestling. When he was visiting troops, Lincoln picked up a very heavy axe and began chopping wood for several minutes. To show his strength, he then held the axe straight out from him and did not even exhibit the slightest twitch or quiver. Many strong soldiers attempted to try this feat but they could not. Lincoln did this multiple times throughout his life.
When he was a child, he nearly drowned. His childhood friend, Austin Gollaher, claims to have saved Lincoln from drowning in Knob Creek.
Lincoln had enormous arms and fingers. The first joint of his middle finger was reported to be half an inch longer than an ordinary mans hand.
A dentist once broke off part of Lincoln's jaw without using anesthesia. This is often attributed to his fear of dentists. A few years later, he had a bad toothache and hesitantly decided to see a dentist. Before his operation, he sniffed a cloth of chloroform and told the dentist, drowsily, to go to work.
Lincoln possibly talked during his sleep. His friend, Henry Whitney, once found him asleep near a fireplace and mumbling "the wildest and most incoherent nonsense. A stranger to Lincoln would have supposed he had suddenly gone insane. Of course, I knew Lincoln and his idiosyncrasies and felt no alarm, so I listened and laughed."
I had read only one of these tidbits somewhere before (the one about the reason he grew a beard). Another fascinating list.
#2 by Max Miroff, Oct 1, 2007
Thank you, Sandra. I really appreciate your positive comment.
#3 by Bill, Oct 7, 2007
Very interesting. By all accounts, Lincoln's life was worthy of a lifetime of study. However, citing sources for some of this info would be wise. To your credit, at least none of the claims show up on Snopes. ;)
#4 by some wierdo, Oct 9, 2007
Thats because him and most of the other founding fathers were freemasons that came from a long line of alien hybrids that have helped create this godforsaking country.........or um yea
#5 by cool eric, Oct 10, 2007
wow! fricasseed chicken? simply fantastic
#6 by choim, Oct 11, 2007
One of my Heroes, with much less bad than most people.
#7 by Toni, Oct 11, 2007
You missed my fav...he wasn't a Christian (as most people think) and wasn't afraid of letting people know.
