Yep, he was a billiard fan too, along with many of our past presidents.
In the IL capital city of Springfield, (company founder) John Brunswick's step-brother Emanuel had established a billiard hall that Abe liked to frequent when he was in town. He was also known to drop by the local hall for a game in other cities as well, such as this instance on record of him playing in Bloomington, IL....
"...It was the privilege of Nathan Heldman, for many years a merchant of Bloomington, IL, so he states, to meet and shake hands with Lincoln, as early as 1858, when the future President was a frequent visitor to that city. An incident which Mr. Heldman often recalls, and of which he was an eye-witness, was a game of billiards between Lincoln and Ward H. Lamon, then living in Bloomington, and others.
Lincoln, he says, showed awkwardness in handling his cue, and whenever he accomplished the feat of striking the balls, he jumped around and cried out like a schoolboy, on the joy of having hit the mark.' Mr. Heldman, now living in Cincinnati, states that the great kindness stamped in Lincoln's face and so often referred to by his biographers, can never be forgotten by anyone, who, like himself, had the pleasure and honor of knowing Lincoln as he did."
Excerpt from: The Sentinel, v.013 no. 08, 1914
Playing off of the popularity of billiards, political cartoonists often portrayed presidential election campaigns in the form of billiard matches, and the race between Abe Lincoln and Jefferson Davis was no exception...
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"...In May of 1863 a cartoon entitled " The Great Cannon Game" shows Abe Lincoln playing billiards with Jeff Davis. It is the latter's shot.
"Hurrah for Charleston! " he cries; "that's another to me."
Abe Lincoln mutters in an aside, " Darned if he ain't scored ag'in! I wish I could make a few winning hazards for a change."
An accompanying article entitled " The Great American Billiard Match" is amusing enough when read today in light of the great "winning hazards" that were to be made by Abe within less than sixty days.
" Considerable excitement," it runs, "has been caused in sporting circles by this long protracted match, which, owing to the style of play adopted by the parties, appears to make but very little progress toward a finish. The largeness of the stakes depending on the contest might be supposed to make the players careful in their strokes, but few expected that the game would last so long as it has done, and no one now dare prophesy when it will be finished. It having been resolved to play the cannon game, some anxiety at first was not unreasonably felt among the backers of Jeff Davis, the crack player for the South; but the knowing ones, who knew their man, made no attempt to hedge, notwithstanding what was said about his being out of play and, in the cannon game especially, somewhat overmatched.
It is needless to remark here that the first strokes which he made quite justified their confidence, and, indeed, throughout the game he has done nothing yet to shake it, so that if he have but a fair amount of luck, his backers feel assured that he wont easily be beaten, and an extra fluke or two might make him win the match.
"As for old Abe Lincoln, the champion player of the North, his backers, we believe, are as confident as ever that he is the best man, although at times his play has not appeared to prove it. There is no doubt that he has more strength at his command, but strength is of small use without knowing how to use it. Abe Lincoln may have skill, but he has not yet shown much of it; and certainly he more than once has shown himself outgeneralled. His backers say he purposely is playing a slow game, just to draw out his opponent and see what he can do. In ninety days, they say, he is cocksure of a victory, but this is an old boast, and nobody except themselves now places any faith in it. Abe's famous Bull Run stroke was a bad start to begin with, and his Charleston break has ended in his having to screw back, and this slip into balk to save himself from mischief.
How the game will end we won't pretend to prophesy.
There are plenty of good judges, who still appear inclined to bet in favor of the South and longish odds are offered that the game will be a drawn one. Abe's attempt to pot the niggers some put down as a foul stroke, but whether foul or not, it added little to his score. Upon the whole we think his play has not been much admired, although his backers have been vehement in superlatively praising it. There is more sympathy for the South, as being the weaker side - a fact which Jeff's supporters indignantly deny, and which certainly the North has not done much as yet toward proving. Without ourselves inclining one way or the other, we may express a neutral hope that the best player may win; and we certainly shall echo the desire of all who watch the game if we add that the sooner it is now played out the better. "
The boasted "neutrality" was put to a rather severe test when, in less than "ninety days", the victory of which Abe's backers were "cock sure" proved a double-barrelled one at Vicksburg in Mississippi, and at Gettysburg in Pennsylvania. "
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Excerpts from:
Abraham Lincoln and the London Punch
Cartoons, comments and poems published in the London charivari, during the American Civil War (1861-1865).
Circa 1909
**Please Note:
"The Cannon Game" mentioned above is a type of actual billiard game - not a reference to a large gun on wheels. Likewise, " Hazards " were methods of scoring points in a billiard game.
In the IL capital city of Springfield, (company founder) John Brunswick's step-brother Emanuel had established a billiard hall that Abe liked to frequent when he was in town. He was also known to drop by the local hall for a game in other cities as well, such as this instance on record of him playing in Bloomington, IL....
"...It was the privilege of Nathan Heldman, for many years a merchant of Bloomington, IL, so he states, to meet and shake hands with Lincoln, as early as 1858, when the future President was a frequent visitor to that city. An incident which Mr. Heldman often recalls, and of which he was an eye-witness, was a game of billiards between Lincoln and Ward H. Lamon, then living in Bloomington, and others.
Lincoln, he says, showed awkwardness in handling his cue, and whenever he accomplished the feat of striking the balls, he jumped around and cried out like a schoolboy, on the joy of having hit the mark.' Mr. Heldman, now living in Cincinnati, states that the great kindness stamped in Lincoln's face and so often referred to by his biographers, can never be forgotten by anyone, who, like himself, had the pleasure and honor of knowing Lincoln as he did."
Excerpt from: The Sentinel, v.013 no. 08, 1914
Playing off of the popularity of billiards, political cartoonists often portrayed presidential election campaigns in the form of billiard matches, and the race between Abe Lincoln and Jefferson Davis was no exception...
--------------------------------------------------------
"...In May of 1863 a cartoon entitled " The Great Cannon Game" shows Abe Lincoln playing billiards with Jeff Davis. It is the latter's shot.
"Hurrah for Charleston! " he cries; "that's another to me."
Abe Lincoln mutters in an aside, " Darned if he ain't scored ag'in! I wish I could make a few winning hazards for a change."
An accompanying article entitled " The Great American Billiard Match" is amusing enough when read today in light of the great "winning hazards" that were to be made by Abe within less than sixty days.
" Considerable excitement," it runs, "has been caused in sporting circles by this long protracted match, which, owing to the style of play adopted by the parties, appears to make but very little progress toward a finish. The largeness of the stakes depending on the contest might be supposed to make the players careful in their strokes, but few expected that the game would last so long as it has done, and no one now dare prophesy when it will be finished. It having been resolved to play the cannon game, some anxiety at first was not unreasonably felt among the backers of Jeff Davis, the crack player for the South; but the knowing ones, who knew their man, made no attempt to hedge, notwithstanding what was said about his being out of play and, in the cannon game especially, somewhat overmatched.
It is needless to remark here that the first strokes which he made quite justified their confidence, and, indeed, throughout the game he has done nothing yet to shake it, so that if he have but a fair amount of luck, his backers feel assured that he wont easily be beaten, and an extra fluke or two might make him win the match.
"As for old Abe Lincoln, the champion player of the North, his backers, we believe, are as confident as ever that he is the best man, although at times his play has not appeared to prove it. There is no doubt that he has more strength at his command, but strength is of small use without knowing how to use it. Abe Lincoln may have skill, but he has not yet shown much of it; and certainly he more than once has shown himself outgeneralled. His backers say he purposely is playing a slow game, just to draw out his opponent and see what he can do. In ninety days, they say, he is cocksure of a victory, but this is an old boast, and nobody except themselves now places any faith in it. Abe's famous Bull Run stroke was a bad start to begin with, and his Charleston break has ended in his having to screw back, and this slip into balk to save himself from mischief.
How the game will end we won't pretend to prophesy.
There are plenty of good judges, who still appear inclined to bet in favor of the South and longish odds are offered that the game will be a drawn one. Abe's attempt to pot the niggers some put down as a foul stroke, but whether foul or not, it added little to his score. Upon the whole we think his play has not been much admired, although his backers have been vehement in superlatively praising it. There is more sympathy for the South, as being the weaker side - a fact which Jeff's supporters indignantly deny, and which certainly the North has not done much as yet toward proving. Without ourselves inclining one way or the other, we may express a neutral hope that the best player may win; and we certainly shall echo the desire of all who watch the game if we add that the sooner it is now played out the better. "
The boasted "neutrality" was put to a rather severe test when, in less than "ninety days", the victory of which Abe's backers were "cock sure" proved a double-barrelled one at Vicksburg in Mississippi, and at Gettysburg in Pennsylvania. "
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Excerpts from:
Abraham Lincoln and the London Punch
Cartoons, comments and poems published in the London charivari, during the American Civil War (1861-1865).
Circa 1909
**Please Note:
"The Cannon Game" mentioned above is a type of actual billiard game - not a reference to a large gun on wheels. Likewise, " Hazards " were methods of scoring points in a billiard game.
