Lincoln almost made a potentially tragic mistake
Saturday, March 16, 2024
Make every day more interesting. Each day a surprising fact opens a world of fascinating information for you to explore. Did you know that….? 
| | Original photo by Glasshouse Images/ Alamy Stock Photo |
| Abraham Lincoln considered joining the Donner Party expedition. | In the spring of 1847, American newspapers printed horrifying reports about an ill-fated group of pioneers who had become trapped in the Sierra Nevada over the winter. With few provisions and facing unbearable cold, nearly half of the group's 81 members perished before rescue parties could find them, four to five months later. Eventually, the Donner Party's tragic tale became embedded in American history, but it could have had a much greater impact had a young Illinois lawyer chosen to join the group.
In the 1840s, emigrants were itching to go west in search of gold, new beginnings, and a glimpse of the West Coast's famed beauty. So it wasn't strange that Abraham Lincoln, then working as a lawyer, helped at least one traveler settle his affairs before beginning the journey. An Irish entrepreneur named James Reed had known Lincoln from their days serving together in the Black Hawk War in 1832. According to the historian Michael Wallis, Reed — a founder of the Donner Party — extended an invitation to the 37-year-old lawyer and his family to join the voyage. Lincoln was likely tempted: He reportedly had a lifelong interest in visiting California. But his wife, Mary Todd, was adamant they should remain in Illinois considering the difficulty of 2,000 miles of wagon travel with a young son and a baby on the way. The Donner Party departed Springfield, Illinois, without the Lincolns on April 15, 1846. Mary Todd was present as the wagons pulled away, waving farewell to an expedition that would go on to face extreme peril. Abraham Lincoln, however, traded his dream of westward travel for political ambitions that took him much further in history when he became the 16th President 15 years later.
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 | | Wagon wheel tracks from the Oregon Trail are still visible. | | |
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| Wagon wheel tracks from the Oregon Trail are still visible. |  |  |
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| The Oregon Trail's primary starting point was __. |  |
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 | Numbers Don't Lie |
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 | | Number of wagons in the Donner Party at its peak | | 23 |
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| | | Number of travelers who trekked the Oregon Trail between 1841 and 1861 | | 300,000+ |
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| | Speed (in mph) of an oxen-drawn wagon | | 2-3 |
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| | | Average annual snowfall (in feet) at Donner Pass | | 34 |
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 | Abraham Lincoln created the Secret Service. |
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| In a strange twist of fate, one of President Abraham Lincoln's final acts was the creation of the Secret Service. Signed into law on April 14, 1865 — the same day Lincoln was assassinated at Ford's Theatre — the Secret Service was established as a group of investigators with an entirely different mission than their purpose today. During the 1800s, one-third of all American currency was counterfeit, a problem so staggering that Lincoln created a commission to find a fix. The solution was an investigative squad that could bust the bogus banknote problem, giving way to the first iteration of the Secret Service. The Secret Service initially served under the Department of the Treasury, though officers would occasionally provide security for the President if other law enforcement was unavailable. It would take another President's assassination — William McKinley's in 1901 — for Congress to assign the Secret Service to permanent presidential detail, though the department is still responsible for investigating financial crimes and fraud today. | | |
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posted by June Lesley at 5:17 AM
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