{"id":1722,"date":"2014-10-30T10:25:43","date_gmt":"2014-10-30T14:25:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/?p=1722"},"modified":"2024-10-02T13:23:59","modified_gmt":"2024-10-02T17:23:59","slug":"lincoln-missed-flag-raising","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/lincoln-missed-flag-raising\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Lincoln missed flag-raising"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Lincoln<\/a>
Lincoln and Hooker review troops in 1863<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Raising the American flag<\/span><\/a> is a common activity for presidents, including Abraham Lincoln. But he had to skip one such occasion, even though he had promised to be there.<\/p>\n

It happened less than a year after his inauguration in March 1861. Six months later, after the first battles of the War Between the States had been fought, the Great Emancipator received an invitation to view the hoisting of Old Glory at a newly constructed fort.<\/p>\n

\"General<\/a>
General Hooker<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The invitation came from \u201cFighting\u201d Joe Hooker, a West Pointer who despised his nickname and rose to become a brigadier general<\/span><\/a>. In 1861, his most famous battles lay in the future: at Williamsburg, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg.<\/p>\n

As summer turned to fall that year, he sent a letter to Lincoln, addressed \u201cTo His Excellency The President of the United States.\u201d Hooker informed the president that \u201cthe Fort which bears His name is completed in all of its essentials.\u201d Hooker was referring to Fort Lincoln near Bladensburg, Maryland.<\/p>\n

The general\u2019s missive continued with the hope that Lincoln \u201cwill honor us with His presence on the occasion of raising the flag which is to float from [the fort\u2019s] crest.\u201d Hooker added that Abe\u2019s participation \u201cwill be esteemed as a mark of especial kindness and consideration by myself and command. If the President should think favorably of this requist [sic] I beg that He will appoint the day for the ceremony.\u201d<\/p>\n

If the honor itself didn\u2019t win over the chief executive, surely the capital H\u2019s did, a distinction usually reserved only for pronouns referring to the Deity.<\/p>\n

Lincoln responded with his assent. \u201cIf agreeable to Genl. Hooker,\u201d he wrote, \u201clet the time be 4 o\u2019clock, P.M. Tuesday, October 22, 1861.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Fort<\/a>
Fort Lincoln with the flag Old Abe did not raise<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But the president never made the event, and the American flag had to be lifted without him. The reason was explained a few days later by The New York Times.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was intended,\u201d the newspaper said, that Hooker\u2019s \u201cwhole division should have participated in the inauguration of Fort Lincoln, near Bladensburgh [sic], but the recent movement prevented\u201d it from occurring.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe recent movement\u201d referred to Confederate troops appearing the area of the fort. That action rendered it a hostile location for President Lincoln to be and drew Union troops out of their newborn fort.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 1865, after Lincoln\u2019s assassination, Hooker led the funeral procession as it passed through Springfield, Illinois, on its way to the 16<\/span>th<\/span> president\u2019s final resting place.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Raising the American flag is a common activity for presidents, including Abraham Lincoln. But he had to skip one such occasion, even though he had promised to be there. It happened less than a year after his inauguration in March 1861. Six months later, after the first battles of the War Between the States had… continue<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":1723,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[82,10,43,227,228],"class_list":["post-1722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history-lessons","tag-abraham-lincoln","tag-american-flag","tag-civil-war","tag-fort-lincoln","tag-general-hooker"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy Abraham Lincoln missed flag-raising at Fort Lincoln<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Raising the American flag is a common activity for presidents, including Abraham Lincoln. 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