THE CONVERSION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN

By the Rev. Edward L. Watson

The religion of Abraham Lincoln is so much in debate that I feel called upon to give the following narrative of an event of which little seems to be known—and which is of real importance in understanding the man. He has been called an infidel—an unbeliever of varying degrees of blatancy. That he was a Christian in the real sense of the term is plain from his life. That he was converted during a Methodist revival seems not to be a matter of common report. The personal element of this narrative is necessary to unfold the story. In 1894 I was appointed to the pastorate of the Hennepin Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church, Minneapolis, Minn., by Bishop Cyrus D. Foss, being transferred from Frederick, Md., a charge in Baltimore Conference. It was in October that we entered the parsonage, which was a double house, the other half being rented by the trustees. Shortly after our occupancy of the church house William B. Jacquess moved into the rented half of the property, and through this fact I became acquainted with Col. James F. Jacquess, his brother. At this time Colonel Jacquess was an old man of eighty years or more, of commanding presence and wearing a long beard which was as white as snow. His title grew out of the fact of his being the commanding officer of the Seventy-third Illinois Volunteer Infantry, known as the Preacher Regiment. Its name was given through the publication in the Cincinnati Commercial in September, 1862, of the roster of its officers:

Colonel—Rev. James F. Jacquess, D.D., late president of Quincy College.

Lieutenant-Colonel—Rev. Benjamin F. Northcott.

Major—Rev. William A. Presson.

Captains—Company B, Rev. W. B. M. Colt; Company C, Rev. P. McNutt; Company F, Rev. George W. Montgomery; Company H, Rev. James I. Davidson; Company I, Rev. Peter Wallace; Company K, Rev. R. H. Laughlin.

Six or seven of the twenty lieutenants were also licensed Methodist preachers. Henry A. Castle, sergeant-major, was the author of the article and a son-in-law, if I mistake not, of Colonel Jacquess.

The history of this regiment is in brief, as follows: It was organized at the instance of Governor Dick Yates, under Colonel Jacquess, in August, 1862, at Camp Butler, in Illinois, and became part of General Buell's army. It fought nobly at Perryville, and in every battle in which the Army of the Cumberland was engaged, from October, 1862, to the rout of Hood's army at Nashville. Its dead were found at Murfreesboro, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, where Colonel Jacquess won especial distinction, and in the succession of battles from Chattanooga to the fall of Atlanta. It was frequently complimented by the commanding generals and was unsurpassed in bravery and endurance. It left the State one of the largest, and returned one of the smallest, having lost two-thirds of its men in its three years' service.

Colonel Jacquess was its only colonel and came home disabled by wounds received at Chickamauga, where two horses were shot under him. He refused to the last (1897) to receive a pension, until in his extreme old age, at the urgent request of the Society of the Survivors of the Seventy-third Illinois, he allowed it to be applied for. He pathetically said: "My grandfathers were Revolutionary soldiers and you could get up a row if you mentioned pensions. My father and my uncles were in the War of 1812, and would take none. I had hoped not to receive one—but I am unable now to do anything, and it has been my desire, and not the fault of the government, that I have never received a pension." These words were spoken in 1897—and not long afterward Colonel Jacquess went to his reward.

Toward the end of the war President Lincoln sent Colonel Jacquess as a secret emissary to arrange for peace and the settlement of the slave question, so as to avert further shedding of blood. His adventures in this role are of thrilling interest. The foregoing is told to show the quality of the man whom it was my privilege to meet in 1896, when he was in extreme old age. The honors conferred upon him by President Lincoln and the confidence reposed in him grew out of events which preceded the war. This was no other than the conversion of Mr. Lincoln under the ministry of the Rev. James F. Jacquess, at Springfield, Ill., in the year 1839. The Rev. James F. Jacquess was stationed at this new town—then of but a few thousand inhabitants—in 1839, when Lincoln met him during a series of revival services conducted in the Methodist Episcopal Church. Lincoln had but recently come to the town—having removed from New Salem, which was in a decadent state. As a member of the Legislature, Lincoln had been a chief agent in establishing the State capital at Springfield, and though in debt and exceedingly poor, he hoped to find friends and practice in the growing town. He was then thirty years of age and had had few advantages of any sort. It was on a certain night, when the pastor preached from the text, "Ye must be born again," that Lincoln was in attendance and was greatly interested. After the service he came round to the little parsonage, and like another Nicodemus, asked, "How can these things be?" Mr. Jacquess explained as best he could the mystery of the new birth and at Lincoln's request, he and his wife kneeled and prayed with the future President. It was not long before Mr. Lincoln expressed his sense of pardon and arose with peace in his heart.

The narrative, as told thus far, is as my memory recalled it. Since writing it, the same as told by Colonel Jacquess has recently been discovered by me in Minutes of the Proceedings of the Eleventh Annual Reunion Survivors Seventy-third Regiment, Illinois Infantry, Volunteers (page 30), a copy of which is before me. This meeting, the last (probably), that Colonel Jacquess attended, was held Tuesday and Wednesday, September 28, 29, 1897, in the Supreme Court room of the State Capitol Building, Springfield, Ill. To quote Colonel Jacquess: "The mention of Mr. Lincoln's name recalls to my mind an occurrence that perhaps I ought to mention. I notice that a number of lectures are being delivered recently on Abraham Lincoln. Bishop Fowler has a most splendid lecture on Abraham Lincoln, but they all, when they reach one point run against a stone wall, and that is in reference to Mr. Lincoln's religious sentiments. I happen to know something on that subject that very few persons know. My wife, who has been dead nearly two years, was the only witness of what I am going to state to you as having occurred. Very soon after my second year's work as a minister in the Illinois Conference, I was sent to Springfield. There were ministers in the Illinois Conference who had been laboring for twenty-five years to get to Springfield, the capital of the State. When the legislature met there were a great many people here, and it was thought to be a matter of great glory among the ministers to be sent to Springfield. But I was not pleased with my assignment. I felt my inability to perform the work. I did not know what to do. I simply talked to the Lord about it, however, and told Him that unless I had help I was going to run away. I heard a voice saying to me, 'Fear not,' and I understood it perfectly. Now I am coming to the point I want to make to you. I was standing at the parsonage door one Sunday morning, a beautiful morning in May, when a little boy came up to me and said: 'Mr. Lincoln sent me around to see if you was going to preach today.' Now, I had met Mr. Lincoln, but I never thought any more of Abe Lincoln than I did of any one else. I said to the boy: 'You go back and tell Mr. Lincoln that if he will come to church he will see whether I am going to preach or not.' The little fellow stood working his fingers and finally said: 'Mr. Lincoln told me he would give me a quarter if I would find out whether you are going to preach.' I did not want to rob the little fellow of his income, so I told him to tell Mr. Lincoln that I was going to try to preach. I was always ready and willing to accept any assistance that came along, and whenever a preacher, or one who had any pretense in that direction, would come along I would thrust him into my pulpit and make him preach, because I felt that anybody could do better than I could.

"The church was filled that morning. It was a good-sized church, but on that day all the seats were filled. I had chosen for my text the words: 'Ye must be born again,' and during the course of my sermon I laid particular stress on the word 'must.' Mr. Lincoln came into the church after the services had commenced, and there being no vacant seats, chairs were put in the altar in front of the pulpit, and Mr. Lincoln and Governor French and wife sat in the altar during the entire services, Mr. Lincoln on my left and Governor French on my right, and I noticed that Mr. Lincoln appeared to be deeply interested in the sermon. A few days after that Sunday Mr. Lincoln called on me and informed me that he had been greatly impressed with my remarks on Sunday and that he had come to talk with me further on the matter. I invited him in, and my wife and I talked and prayed with him for hours. Now, I have seen many persons converted; I have seen hundreds brought to Christ, and if ever a person was converted, Abraham Lincoln was converted that night in my house. His wife was a Presbyterian, but from remarks he made to me he could not accept Calvinism. He never joined my church, but I will always believe that since that night Abraham Lincoln lived and died a Christian gentleman."

Here ends the narrative of Colonel Jacquess. Now compare that which my memory preserved for the past thirteen years and the Colonel's own printed account, and the discrepancies are small. It is with pleasure I am able to confirm my memory by the words of the original narrator. It is with no small degree of pleasure that I am able to prove that Methodism had a hand in the making of the greatest American. Colonel James F. Jacquess has gone to his reward, but it is his honor to have been used by his Master to help in the spiritualization of the great man who piloted our national destinies in a time of exceeding peril. It is an honor to him, and through him to the denomination of which he was a distinguished member.

Baltimore, Md.
Methodist Christian Advocate
November 11, 1909.