Rensselaer Republican, Volume 18, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 November 1885 — Origin of “Old Abe.” [ARTICLE]

Origin of “Old Abe.”

The following interesting story is told by ex-Senator E. B. Washburne in the North American Review. Speaking of Mr. Lincoln, he says: “We met at the celebrated River and Harbor Convention at Chicago, held July 5,6, and 7, 1847. He was simplya looker-on, and took no leading part in the convention. His dress and personal appearance on that occasion could, not well be forgotten. It was then foii the first time I heard him called ‘Old Abe.’ ‘Old Abe,’ as applied to him, seemed strange enough, as he was then a young man only thirty-six years of age. One afternoon several of us sat on the sidewalk under the balcony in front of the Sherman House, and among the number that accomplished scholar and unrivaled, orator Lisle Smith. He suddenly interrupted the conversation by exclaiming, ‘ There is Lincoln on the other side of the street! Just look at Old Abe!’ And from that time we called him ‘Old Abe.”*,