John Hanks
Encyclopedia
John Hanks was Abraham Lincoln
's second cousin, his mother's cousin. He was the son of Joseph Hanks, Nancy Hanks Lincoln's uncle.
, then travelling to Kentucky and later to Macon County, Illinois. It was he who persuaded Thomas to move to Illinois in 1830. He worked alongside Abraham at his first job after he left home. Hanks and Abraham together went to New Orleans in 1831, as hired hands on a flatboat
owned by Denton Offutt
, Lincoln (and his stepbrother John D. Johnston) being hired at Hanks' recommendation.
convention at Decatur, Illinois
, in 1860. Oglesby had been looking for a populist symbol to attach to Lincoln for the convention, and had approached Hanks about it. Hanks told Oglesby, in response to being asked what kind of work Lincoln had been good at in his early years, "not much of any kind but dreaming, but he did help me [to] split a lot of rails when we made a clearing twelve miles west of here". Hanks and Oglesby travelled together to the location by buggy, and after looking around, Hanks identified some fence rails that he thought Lincoln had worked upon, they being of the right age and type.
The rails were returned by Hanks and Oglesby and stored in Oglesby's barn. On May the 9th, 1860, the opening day of the convention, Oglesby addressed the crowd, announcing that "An old Democrat of Macon county […] desire[s] to make a contribution to the Convention". At this cue, Hanks, and Isaac Jennings, carried two of the fence railings into the Convention hall, which were tagged with a banner that read "Abraham Lincoln, the Rail Candidate for President in 1860. Two rails from a lot of three thousand made in 1830 by John Hanks and Abe Lincoln.".
This election stunt had the side-effect of making Hanks into somewhat of a national celebrity in the United States, with Republican supporters writing to Hanks and Oglesby requesting "genuine Lincoln rails" split by Hanks and Lincoln. Hanks and Oglesby's initial small supply of fence rails was quickly exhausted and Hanks took to buying more rails from the (then) owner of the farm property. Hanks, who was illiterate, was unable to organize the purchases on his own, and it was Oglesby that managed much of the transactions, writing cheques to Hanks (date May the 26th and June the 16th) for "John Hanks Rail money" and creating a bank account in the name of "Rail acct with John Hanks". It even devolved upon Oglesby to write the certificates of authenticity of the 72 "genuine" Lincoln rails that were dispatched on Hanks' behalf.
The illiteracy was to become an issue later in the campaign. The Democrat
s started a rumour that Hanks was not in fact going to vote for Lincoln come election time. In response, the Republicans published, on July the 4th, a 1600-word letter, purportedly by Hanks, wherein he stated that yes, he had voted for Stephen A. Douglas
, the Democratic presidential hopeful, in 1858, but that he considered himself misled into doing so. The letter contained a wholesale endorsement of Lincoln. The Democrats voiced their suspicion that the letter (which is today held in the Oglesby Family Collection at the Illinois State Historical Library) must have been written by someone else, some "smart Republican", on Hanks' behalf. The handwriting on the original manuscript of the letter itself is in fact Oglesby's, and in addition to John Hanks' mark it contains the declaration "The original John Hanks letter written for him as he stood by and expressed his wishes and gave the facts to me — together we got it up and sent it forth in the Memorable campaign of A.D. 1860. R. J. Oglesby.".
Hanks letter transcribed by Oglesby spurred a counter publication by Democratic newspapers of a letter by Charles Hanks, John Hanks' brother, on behalf of the Democrats, alleging that although it may bear his mark, Hanks "even yet does not know what is in it, much less did he ever write it". Charles went on to contest several of the facts of John's letter, and noted that the fence rails around the old Lincoln cabin had been replaced at least three times in the thirty years that had elapsed between John Hanks and Lincoln working together on them and the 1860 presidential campaign. This in turn prompted private correspondence, again in Oglesby's handwriting, between John Hanks and Abraham Lincoln. It was decided that no more open letters by Hanks should be published, and instead Hanks took to making personal appearances in support of Lincoln on the campaign trail.
After Lincoln's election, Hanks sought a political appointment in the new administration, again through Oglesby as a letter-writing intermediary, preferring to be an Indian agent. However, although (according to Henry Clay Whitney
) Lincoln did give the matter serious consideration, he was not appointed to any position by Lincoln, although he did visit the White House several times and attend Lincoln's inauguration.
When the United States Civil War broke, Hanks enlisted as a teamster in the Illinois regiment, under Ulysses S. Grant
, despite being technically too old to enlist. Hanks was never to see his second cousin in the flesh again, their paths only crossing for a final time when Hanks attended Lincoln's funeral.
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
's second cousin, his mother's cousin. He was the son of Joseph Hanks, Nancy Hanks Lincoln's uncle.
Early years
Hanks lived in Indiana from 1823 to 1827, with Thomas LincolnThomas Lincoln
Thomas Lincoln was an American farmer and father of President Abraham Lincoln.-Ancestors:Thomas Lincoln was descended from Samuel Lincoln, a Puritan from East Anglia who landed in Massachusetts in 1637...
, then travelling to Kentucky and later to Macon County, Illinois. It was he who persuaded Thomas to move to Illinois in 1830. He worked alongside Abraham at his first job after he left home. Hanks and Abraham together went to New Orleans in 1831, as hired hands on a flatboat
Flatboat
Fil1800flatboat.jpgA flatboat is a rectangular flat-bottomed boat with Fil1800flatboat.jpgA flatboat is a rectangular flat-bottomed boat with Fil1800flatboat.jpgA flatboat is a rectangular flat-bottomed boat with (mostlyNOTE: "(parenthesized)" wordings in the quote below are notes added to...
owned by Denton Offutt
Denton Offutt
Denton Offutt was a 19th-century American general store operator who hired future President Abraham Lincoln for his first job as an adult in New Salem, Illinois....
, Lincoln (and his stepbrother John D. Johnston) being hired at Hanks' recommendation.
Hanks the "rail splitter" and the 1860 Republican presidential campaign
It was Hanks who accompanied Richard J. Oglesby to the old Lincoln farm and bring back the split fence rails for Lincoln's famous "rail splitter" campaign at the Republican PartyRepublican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
convention at Decatur, Illinois
Decatur, Illinois
Decatur is the largest city and the county seat of Macon County in the U.S. state of Illinois. The city, sometimes called "the Soybean Capital of the World", was founded in 1823 and is located along the Sangamon River and Lake Decatur in Central Illinois. In 2000 the city population was 81,500,...
, in 1860. Oglesby had been looking for a populist symbol to attach to Lincoln for the convention, and had approached Hanks about it. Hanks told Oglesby, in response to being asked what kind of work Lincoln had been good at in his early years, "not much of any kind but dreaming, but he did help me [to] split a lot of rails when we made a clearing twelve miles west of here". Hanks and Oglesby travelled together to the location by buggy, and after looking around, Hanks identified some fence rails that he thought Lincoln had worked upon, they being of the right age and type.
The rails were returned by Hanks and Oglesby and stored in Oglesby's barn. On May the 9th, 1860, the opening day of the convention, Oglesby addressed the crowd, announcing that "An old Democrat of Macon county […] desire[s] to make a contribution to the Convention". At this cue, Hanks, and Isaac Jennings, carried two of the fence railings into the Convention hall, which were tagged with a banner that read "Abraham Lincoln, the Rail Candidate for President in 1860. Two rails from a lot of three thousand made in 1830 by John Hanks and Abe Lincoln.".
This election stunt had the side-effect of making Hanks into somewhat of a national celebrity in the United States, with Republican supporters writing to Hanks and Oglesby requesting "genuine Lincoln rails" split by Hanks and Lincoln. Hanks and Oglesby's initial small supply of fence rails was quickly exhausted and Hanks took to buying more rails from the (then) owner of the farm property. Hanks, who was illiterate, was unable to organize the purchases on his own, and it was Oglesby that managed much of the transactions, writing cheques to Hanks (date May the 26th and June the 16th) for "John Hanks Rail money" and creating a bank account in the name of "Rail acct with John Hanks". It even devolved upon Oglesby to write the certificates of authenticity of the 72 "genuine" Lincoln rails that were dispatched on Hanks' behalf.
The illiteracy was to become an issue later in the campaign. The Democrat
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
s started a rumour that Hanks was not in fact going to vote for Lincoln come election time. In response, the Republicans published, on July the 4th, a 1600-word letter, purportedly by Hanks, wherein he stated that yes, he had voted for Stephen A. Douglas
Stephen A. Douglas
Stephen Arnold Douglas was an American politician from the western state of Illinois, and was the Northern Democratic Party nominee for President in 1860. He lost to the Republican Party's candidate, Abraham Lincoln, whom he had defeated two years earlier in a Senate contest following a famed...
, the Democratic presidential hopeful, in 1858, but that he considered himself misled into doing so. The letter contained a wholesale endorsement of Lincoln. The Democrats voiced their suspicion that the letter (which is today held in the Oglesby Family Collection at the Illinois State Historical Library) must have been written by someone else, some "smart Republican", on Hanks' behalf. The handwriting on the original manuscript of the letter itself is in fact Oglesby's, and in addition to John Hanks' mark it contains the declaration "The original John Hanks letter written for him as he stood by and expressed his wishes and gave the facts to me — together we got it up and sent it forth in the Memorable campaign of A.D. 1860. R. J. Oglesby.".
Hanks letter transcribed by Oglesby spurred a counter publication by Democratic newspapers of a letter by Charles Hanks, John Hanks' brother, on behalf of the Democrats, alleging that although it may bear his mark, Hanks "even yet does not know what is in it, much less did he ever write it". Charles went on to contest several of the facts of John's letter, and noted that the fence rails around the old Lincoln cabin had been replaced at least three times in the thirty years that had elapsed between John Hanks and Lincoln working together on them and the 1860 presidential campaign. This in turn prompted private correspondence, again in Oglesby's handwriting, between John Hanks and Abraham Lincoln. It was decided that no more open letters by Hanks should be published, and instead Hanks took to making personal appearances in support of Lincoln on the campaign trail.
After Lincoln's election, Hanks sought a political appointment in the new administration, again through Oglesby as a letter-writing intermediary, preferring to be an Indian agent. However, although (according to Henry Clay Whitney
Henry Clay Whitney
Henry Clay Whitney was a United States lawyer who was a close friend of President Abraham Lincoln, and later a biographer of the president.-Life:...
) Lincoln did give the matter serious consideration, he was not appointed to any position by Lincoln, although he did visit the White House several times and attend Lincoln's inauguration.
When the United States Civil War broke, Hanks enlisted as a teamster in the Illinois regiment, under Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant was the 18th President of the United States as well as military commander during the Civil War and post-war Reconstruction periods. Under Grant's command, the Union Army defeated the Confederate military and ended the Confederate States of America...
, despite being technically too old to enlist. Hanks was never to see his second cousin in the flesh again, their paths only crossing for a final time when Hanks attended Lincoln's funeral.