Recalling Lincoln's stop in Alliance: 'No time for long speeches'

Abraham Lincoln stopped in Alliance on his way from Springfield, Illinois, to Washington, D.C., on Feb. 15, 1861, at a time when he was about to become president.

His remarks to those gathered at the train station were brief and humorous.

“I appear before you merely to greet you and say farewell. I have no time for long speeches," he said to a crowd. "If I should make a speech at every town, I would not get to Washington until some time after the inauguration."

According to Alliance Historical Society, Lincoln's layover in Alliance was only 20 minutes long and his words "could barely be heard over the sound of a train whistle."

"But I am somewhat interested in the inauguration," he added. "I would like to get there …"

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On this the day – the 215th anniversary of Lincoln's birth – the president-elect's 12-day train journey to be sworn into office seems interesting and significant to local history, despite the fact that the layover in Alliance 163 years ago was not an official event.

"On Feb. 11-23, 1861, Abraham Lincoln made his inaugural journey," notes the page that the website for the National Park Service devotes to the national historic site that is Lincoln's home in Illinois. "He stopped and made remarks at 16 cities and towns. Those cities include Springfield, Illinois; Indianapolis, Indiana; Cincinnati, Ohio; Columbus, Ohio; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Cleveland, Ohio; Westfield, New York; Buffalo, New York; Albany, New York; Peekskill, New York; New York, New York; Trenton, New Jersey; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Baltimore, Maryland; and, Washington, DC."

Lincoln's train also paused for a briefer stop at the depot in Alliance, as it did in other small cities. He greeted the people in those communities and apparently satisfied his hunger.

Lincoln fed during layover

A hotel and dining hall run by Col. Daniel Sourbeck adjoined the Alliance depot, according to The Great American Stations.

"On his way to Washington, D.C., to take up the presidency in 1861, Abraham Lincoln made a stop at Sourbeck’s, which had become famous for its fine meals," the website said.

Reportedly, Lincoln and his wife enjoyed a turkey dinner.

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Lincoln reportedly wasn't the only Union leader to partake of Sourbeck's hospitality, the website noted.

"The wood depot and hostelry burned to the ground in 1863," continued greatamericanstations.com. "In response, the railroad built a sturdier two-story red brick structure known as Sourbeck House that contained a depot, an expanded 20 room hotel on the second floor, sitting rooms and parlors for female guests and visitors, and a dining hall. Union Army Generals Grant, Sherman, and Sheridan dined at the restaurant in 1867."

The dining was documented by The Alliance Review, which in a 2013 retrospective by John Whitacre noted that Lincoln's short stop "included a meal the Sourbeck House."

The Review also recalled that Lincoln stepped on the railroad car platform to quickly make his remarks.

"I stopped that I may see you and that you may see me, and with this arrangement I have had the best of it," the future president was reported to have said.

Remembering the visit

The Review didn't publish a story about Lincoln's visit in 1861, Whitacre said in looking back at the president-elect's stop in Alliance. Still, newspapers in Canton took note, as did the paper in Salem, so Whitacre based his recollection on those accounts.

"Lincoln's train was purposely routed through many cities so people could see the president-elect," he explained. "At several towns, Lincoln made short appearances and did not make major speeches – people simply wanted to get a look at the first president born west of the Appalachians in the days before a candidate's image bombarded the media."

The Salem paper reported about 1,000 people crowded the depot.

"The train was behind schedule," Whitacre wrote, "and the engineer blew the steam whistle while Lincoln talked, so many people couldn't hear his remarks."

Whitacre recalled a talk given by historian Joe Zelasko of Alliance Historical Society during a Lincoln program at Rodman Public Library in 2011. Zelasko noted Lincoln's wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, "was contrary about coming out, but when she did, Lincoln quipped."

The tall Lincoln knew the crowd could see the difference in their heights.

"Here's the long and the short of it," Lincoln joked.

Monument to stop erected

A memorial was erected in Alliance in 1934, honoring Abraham Lincoln's visit to the city. The historical marker, stacked stones on which an embossed profile of Lincoln in his log cabin is visible, carries the date of Lincoln's arrival and an inscription recalling one of the president's well-known quotations: "With Malice Toward None."

We were reminded recently of this monument – and the moment in Stark County history it represents – by the rediscovery of a photograph of the stone taken a few years ago by now-retired Repository photographer Scott Heckel.

"I spent some time in Alliance this week and discovered this mini monument," Heckel wrote in 2020 at the time he posted the picture on social media. "At first, I only noticed the back of it, then walked around to the other side. ... This is a Stark County historical fact that I wasn’t previously aware of."

No doubt many learn of Lincoln's visit from the marker.

The stones used in constructing the monument, a plaque on the side documents, reportedly were taken from the Lincoln farm in Kentucky.

Just as those stones would journey across the states to arrive in Alliance, Lincoln himself traveled on to Washington following brief remarks in Alliance. A Repository in February 1861 records longer addresses in Cleveland and Pittsburgh.

And, of course, Lincoln made it to Washington in time for his inauguration.

The National Park Service webpage devoted to Lincoln's inaugural journey ends with words Lincoln offered on the day he was sworn into office in Washington, March 4, 1861.

"In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war," he said in his inaugural address. "The government will not assail you. You can have no conflict, without being yourselves the aggressors. You have no oath registered in Heaven to destroy the government, while I shall have the most solemn one to 'preserve, protect and defend' it."

Reach Gary at gary.brown.rep@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on The Alliance Review: Recalling President-elect Lincoln's stop in Alliance: 'No time for long speeches'