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Abraham Lincoln: a History — Volume 01 by John George Nicolay;John Hay
page 86 of 416 (20%)
of hope and promise when the advertisement reached Springfield from
Cincinnati that "the splendid upper-cabin steamer Talisman" would
positively start for the Sangamon on a given day. As the paper
containing this joyous intelligence also complained that no mail had
reached Springfield from the east for three weeks, it is easy to
understand the desire for more rapid and regular communications. From
week to week the progress of the _Talisman_, impeded by bad weather
and floating ice, was faithfully recorded, until at last the party
with long-handled axes went down to Beardstown to welcome her. It is
needless to state that Lincoln was one of the party. His standing as a
scientific citizen of New Salem would have been enough to insure his
selection even if he had not been known as a bold navigator. He
piloted the _Talisman_ safely through the windings of the Sangamon,
and Springfield gave itself up to extravagant gayety on the event that
proved she "could no longer be considered an inland town." Captain
Bogue announced "fresh and seasonable goods just received per
steamboat _Talisman_," and the local poets illuminated the columns of
the "Journal" with odes on her advent. The joy was short-lived. The
_Talisman_ met the natural fate of steamboats a few months later,
being burned at the St. Louis wharf. Neither State nor nation has ever
removed the snags from the Sangamon, and no subsequent navigator of
its waters has been found to eclipse the fame of the earliest one.




CHAPTER V

LINCOLN IN THE BLACK HAWK WAR

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