- CURRENT:
- Articles
- From the Publisher
- Primary Source Material: Manuscripts
- Overlooked Evidence: Lincoln in Pioneer Chicago
- “THE UNION Is DISSOLVED” The Charleston Mercury Broadside: Points of Authenticity and Variations
- Lincoln Letter Fraud on Ebay
- What He Really Thought of Lincoln: The Discovery of an Unpublished Letter by William F. Herndon
- The Sanitary Fair’s Gifts to President Lincoln
- Behind the Scenes At Federal Hall
- In The Marketplace
- LINCOLNPHILE (book reviews)
- Lincoln’s Code: The Laws of War in American History
- “Lincoln” Hits the Screens
- We Have The War Upon Us: The Onset of the Civil War, November 1860-April 1861
- Homefront & Battlefield: Quilts and Context in the Civil War
- President James Buchanan and the Crisis of National Leadership
- Giant in the Shadows: The Life of Robert T. Lincoln
- Lincoln Legends: Myths, Hoaxes, and Confabulations Associated With Our Greatest President.
- Abraham Lincoln: The Image of His Greatness.
- Act of Justice: Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation and the Law of War.
- The Dark Intrigue: The True Story of a Civil War Conspiracy.
- President Lincoln: the Duty of a Statesman.
- Lincoln’s Men: The President and His Private Secretaries.
- The Lincoln’s: Portrait of a Marriage.
- The Madness of Mary Lincoln.
- Lincoln the Inventor.
- Lincoln and New York.
- Letters to the Editor
- Rail Splinters
- Lincoln at the Abolition Ball
- Where East Meets West
- A Prince of a Guy
- Stereo view photographs of Abraham Lincoln statue damaged in 1906 San Francisco earthquake
- Lincoln in Film
- John Wilkes Booth? Probably not.
- Answer to the question “Whatever became of the Gillett collection?”
- What happened to the Gillette Collection?
- This Train is Bound for Glory
- Lincoln Ballots 1834-1864
- In Memoriam: C. Peter Scanlan
- Portrait of Lincoln Legal Associate Unearthed
- Thomas T. Eckert Archive: Telegraphic History of the Civil War
- Beethoven’s medium channels news of Lincoln’s Death by composing “The Funeral March”
- Where is Mary Todd Lincoln’s 1861 Inaugural Ball dress?
- The Meatball does The Sauceman (and The Rail Splitter) proud
- Lincoln “apparently not” a sexist
- Campaign woodcuts in illustrated magazines, symbolism or adornment?
- 1890 Wide-Awake Reunion program
- Baltimore Coin & Currency Convention Highlights
- Suspect Lincoln
- Great Finds!
The Lincoln Totem Pole
Dear Rail Splitters,
On my recent trip to Alaska, I visited Saxman Totem Park near Ketchikan where I happened upon the Abraham Lincoln and William Seward totem poles. In an attempt to preserve the art and culture of the Tlingit people, Saxman Park was created to protect the totem poles gathered from abandoned villages of the Tlingit people. The Tlingits belong to either of two lineage clans: the Raven or Eagle phratries. In 1868, the Raven and Eagle phratries were at war with each other. The Ravens were entrenched on an island without food or fresh water. Word arrived of the nearby presence of the cutterLincoln, and the Raven people escaped to the beach under the shelter of the guns of the Lincoln. With the Ravens under the protection of the Lincoln, the two groups made peace and never fought again.
The Lincoln totem pole was created in the 1870s by the Ravens to commemorate the protection they received. The pole carver was a Tsimshian artist from British Columbia who carved the image from a photograph he was given of Abraham Lincoln. Because he is wearing a stovepipe hat, I believe this was likely one of the Antietam photographs of Lincoln. At the bottom of the pole is the Raven figure, and the pole is referred to as the Proud Raven Pole. The pole was moved to Saxman Park in 1938. Due to weather-related deterioration, the pole was reproduced, and the original was sent to the Territorial Museum in Juneau.
Also in Saxman Park is the William Seward pole. In 1869, Seward visited the territory and was entertained by Tlingit Chief Ebbits. The chief presented Seward with a spruce root hat and a carved chest covered with furs as a seat of honor. The totem pole, which shows Seward sitting on the carved chest wearing the spruce hat, was carved in 1885 to commemorate the visit. The totem pole lacks any other carvings as a reminder to the people that Seward never reciprocated the generosity of the chief.
Howard Mishoulam, M.D.
Class of 1978, Abraham Lincoln School of Medicine at the University of Illinois
Schererville, IN
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