Learning about Lincoln

DUNLAP, Tenn. — History has made Abraham Lincoln a man of myth, a fabled leader without flaw, said Sequatchie County High School teacher and historian Henry Camp.

Reality is somewhat different.

“He was very unpopular (at first),” he said. “That has kind of been lost in history. He has gone down as kind of a myth. Everyone thinks he is this wonderful, great person — almost godlike. He was a human being, and that is what we need to remember.”

Mr. Camp is organizing a community discussion about President Lincoln in hopes of helping residents understand and appreciate the reality of the 16th president. It is scheduled for August and September at the Sequatchie County Library.

Lincoln was a contradiction, at once prone to depression and fond of fun, Mr. Camp said, and he grew during his time in office.

“I see two Lincolns,” he said. “There is a Lincoln before the war and a Lincoln after the war (began). He changed a great deal as a man.”

Mr. Camp believes President Lincoln is the greatest leader in U.S. history, but he said there is more to the assassinated leader than is remembered.

When the history teacher saw the Library of America’s community discussion program “Lincoln in American Memory,” created to celebrate the Lincoln bicentennial — which runs through 2011 — he thought it was perfect for his community.

The Library of America is providing five free paperback books about the president to be used in a community reading and discussion.

Library Director Betty Worley said she is excited about the event, as long as there is enough room. She has heard of similar discussion groups in larger cities such as Chattanooga but said it hasn’t been done in Dunlap.

“I hope it is not the last,” she said. “I think it will be educational. We are trying to get some more books on Lincoln.”

President Lincoln led the country through the Civil War, a watershed event in United States history, only to become the first president to be assassinated as the war was coming to an end.

Raised in poverty, the former lawyer was born in Kentucky but moved to Illinois and is sometimes thought of as a Northerner. “I’ve never given him to the North,” Mr. Camp said.

Southeast Tennessee and Northwest Georgia have rich Civil War roots, and Mr. Camp hopes they bring interest to the upcoming discussions.

“(Lincoln’s) brother-in-law was killed in the Battle of Chickamauga,” Mr. Camp said. “He served in the Confederate Army.

“It was kind of an oddity because the Lincoln White House was draped in black. They were in mourning over the death of a Confederate general.”