Was Abraham Lincoln Really a Wrestler

Abraham Lincoln is revered for his political skills and his abilities as a writer and public speaker. Yet he also was respected for physical feats, such as his early skill wielding an ax. And when he began to rise in politics in the late 1850s, stories circulated that Lincoln had been a very capable wrestler in his youth. Following his death, the wrestling stories continued to circulate. Whats the truth? Was Abraham Lincoln really a wrestler? The answer is yes.   Lincoln was known for being a very good wrestler in his youth in New Salem, Illinois. And that reputation was brought up  by political supporters and even one notable  opponent. And a particular wrestling match against a local bully in a small Illinois settlement became a beloved part of Lincoln lore. Of course, Lincolns wrestling exploits were nothing like the flamboyant professional wrestling we know  today. And it wasnt  even like the organized athletics of high school or college wrestling. Lincolns  grappling amounted to frontier feats of strength witnessed by a handful of townspeople. But his wrestling skills still became the stuff of political legend. Lincolns Wrestling Past Surfaced In Politics In the 19th century, it was important for a politician to demonstrate bravery and vitality, and that naturally applied to Abraham Lincoln. Political campaign mentions of Lincoln as a capable wrestler first seem to have surfaced during the 1858 debates  that were part of the campaign for a U.S. Senate seat in Illinois. Surprisingly, it was Lincolns perennial opponent, Stephen Douglas, who brought it up. Douglas, at the first Lincoln-Douglas Debate in Ottawa, Illinois on August 21, 1858, referred to Lincolns longstanding reputation as a wrestler in what the New York Times called an amusing passage. Douglas mentioned having known Lincoln for decades, adding, He could beat any of the boys at wrestling. Only after dispensing such lighthearted praise did Douglas get around to savaging Lincoln, labeling him an Abolitionist Black Republican. Lincoln lost that election, but two years later, when he had been nominated as the young Republican Partys candidate for president, the wrestling mentions came up again. During the 1860 presidential campaign, some newspapers reprinted the comments Douglas had made about Lincolns wrestling skill. And the reputation as an athletic lad who had engaged in wrestling was spread by Lincoln supporters. John Locke Scripps, a Chicago newspaperman, wrote a campaign biography of Lincoln which was quickly published as a book for distribution during the 1860 campaign. It is believed Lincoln reviewed the manuscript and made corrections and deletions, and he apparently approved of the following passage: It is scarcely necessary to add that he also greatly excelled in all those homely feats of strength, agility, and endurance  practiced by frontier people in his sphere of life. In wrestling, jumping, running, throwing the maul and pitching the crow-bar, he always stood first among those of his own age. The campaign stories of 1860 planted a seed. After his death, the legend of Lincoln as a great wrestler took hold, and the story of a particular wrestling match held decades earlier became a standard part of the Lincoln legend. Challenged to Wrestle the Local Bully The story behind the legendary wrestling match is that Lincoln, while in his early 20s, had settled in the frontier village of New Salem, Illinois. He worked in a general store, though he was mostly concentrating on reading and educating himself. Lincolns employer, a storekeeper named Denton Offutt, would boast about the strength of Lincoln, who stood six feet four inches tall. As a result of Offutts boasting, Lincoln was challenged to fight Jack Armstrong, a local bully who was the leader of a group of mischief makers known as the Clarys Grove Boys. Armstrong and his friends were known for mean-spirited pranks, such as forcing new arrivals in the community into a barrel, nailing the lid on, and rolling the barrel down a hill. The Match With Jack Armstrong A resident of New Salem, recalling the event decades later, said the townspeople tried to get Lincoln to tussle and scuffle with Armstrong. Lincoln at first refused, but finally agreed to a wrestling match that would start off with side holds. The object was to throw the other man. A crowd gathered in front of Offuts store, with the locals wagering on the outcome. After the obligatory handshake, the two young men struggled against each other for a time, neither one being able to find an advantage. Finally, according to a version of the story repeated in countless Lincoln biographies, Armstrong tried to foul Lincoln by tripping him. Enraged by the dirty tactics, Lincoln grabbed Armstrong by the neck and, extending his long arms, shook him like a rag. When it appeared Lincoln would win the match, Armstrongs cohorts in the Clarys Grove Boys began to approach. Lincoln, according to one version of the story, stood with his back to the wall of the general store and announced that he would fight each man individually, but not all of them at once. Jack Armstrong brought an end to the affair, declaring that Lincoln had bested him fairly and was the best feller that ever broke into this settlement. The two opponents shook hands  and were friends from that point onward. Wrestling  Became Part of the Lincoln Legend In the years following Lincolns assassination, William Herndon, Lincolns former law partner in Springfield, Illinois, devoted a lot of time to preserving Lincolns legacy. Herndon corresponded with a number of people who claimed to have witnessed the wrestling match in front of Offutts store in New Salem. The eyewitness accounts tended to be contradictory, and there are several variations of the story. The general outline, however, is always the same: Lincoln was a reluctant participant goaded into the wrestling matchHe faced an opponent who tried to cheatAnd he stood up to a gang of bullies. And those elements of the story became part of American folklore.