I’d heard, of course, about the plot to steal Lincoln’s corpse, and how the bodysnatchers managed to crack the tomb, but I’d never read the full details of the plot. This is Hollywood thriller stuff! I’ve excerpted the beginning but it’s worth clicking through to the link for the complete story. A quick Google reveals a full-length nonfiction book is available, too, if you wanted all the juicy details. How long before this becomes the next instalment in the National Treasure series?

With its chief engraver serving a 10-year prison term, the gang of funny money makers were running low on the bogus bills. They hatched the ill-conceived plot to kidnap Lincoln’s body. They planned to cart it 200 miles to the dunes to bury it.Fortunately, the Pinkertons, a detective agency, had infiltrated the gang and were aware of its plans.

Source: NWI and the plot to steal Lincoln’s body

The chair used by Mathew Brady for his portraits of Lincoln, Grant, Mark Twain and others is coming up for auction. After 11 months in Europe on a falling Canadian dollar, this chair is a little beyond my budget, but man – what a conversation piece the winning bidder will have!

She said: ‘There is perhaps no other single object that connects with so many important people, all prominent figures in 19th-century American history.’It is not only an important survivor from a significant official American commission, but, and most importantly, is the physical support for portrait photographs of the most prominent figures in nineteenth-century American history.’ The chair will be sold at Bonhams auction house in New York on October 26.

Source: Abraham Lincoln gifted photographer Mathew Brady a wooden chair now on sale | Daily Mail Online

I’ve been travelling for a few months, and have become well acquainted with Airbnb, a service that lets you rent everything from a couch to a full house from individuals on the Internet. I had some pretty wonderful experiences, including a board game night with new friends in Canterbury and a huge apartment in the heart of Paris, where I shared a bed with two adorable cats.

Having finished my adventures in Europe (and drained my bank account in Canada), I’m looking at taking my next vacations a little closer to home, hopefully along the corridors frequented by Lee and Grant, Sherman and Johnston, and the armies. I somehow doubt that Michelle Obama will give permission for the Lincoln bedroom to be added to Airbnb’s inventory, but it’s a cute thought. I might settle for this Gettysburg farmhouse instead – something tells me it’ll be far more budget friendly.

During a TV interview Monday, Airbnb CEO and co-founder Brian Chesky said he recently asked President Obama to list the hallowed Lincoln Bedroom on his controversial Web site.“You know, I actually was invited to the White House because I…worked with him on entrepreneurship in Cuba, and when I was there, I had made sure to mention one thing to him. And that was, we need to get the Lincoln Bedroom on Airbnb,”
Source: Airbnb wants to rent out the Lincoln Bedroom | New York Post

Beginning October 19th there is a free course available online for those wishing to learn more about Missouri in the Civil War.  I’ve always been fascinated by Missouri – a state torn in two which led to the population of the wildest figures in the Wild West, so I’ll be checking this out.  It is designed for Missouri State students but has been opened to the general public as well; a generous gift to us buffs!

According to Neely, the course will focus on Missouri and the state’s key role in the sectional disputes over slavery that date back to the Missouri Compromise in 1820. The Missouri Compromise allowed Missouri to enter the Union as a slave state, but was also claimed as part of the Confederacy during the Civil War.

“Over and over again, Missourians were right there in the middle — both figuratively and geographically — of debates about the fate of slavery and freedom in the United States,” Neely said. “Many historians, unfortunately, have downplayed the importance of what happened in Missouri and much of the West during the Civil War. But, I argue that a border state like this gives us a revealing window through which we can study that larger struggle.”

There are some passages in Team of Rivals that mention young Lincoln being known for his wrestling skills.  A historian on Reddit gives some details of the wrestling style, and links to a photo of the costume of the time. Very strange to think of Lincoln wrestling men in longjohns!

Lincoln was most definitely a wrestler. In fact, in 1992, he was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Wrestlers in Lincoln’s time predominantly would have worn longjohns. You can see something similar in this image.

Source: I’ve heard that Abraham Lincoln was a successful wrestler in his youth. What style of wrestling would he have participated in? How popular was wrestling in frontier America during his youth? : AskHistorians