Jacob Humble was a Civil War veteran who had been a prisoner at Andersonville. But before this experience in Mr. Humble's otherwise quiet life in Patricksburg, Indiana, he and a handcapped friend made a trip to Springfield, Illinois because Jacob wanted to meet Abraham Lincoln, "for whom he had voted." Jacob Humble was typical of the average Owen County man in being on the side of Whigs and Republicans.

       Bryant McNamer, at that time about 45, lived in Owen County near Jordan Village.  He had lost part of his hands and all  his eyesight in an explosion  while working on the Wabash and Erie Canal.  According to the report, blasting powder prematurely exploded in a rock ledge.  Where this took place is not noted, but the canal came through Terre Haute and a cross cut section (parts still exist) came into Clay and Greene counties, adjoining Owen County.  
  
      Evidently this left Mr. McNamer a pauper and without employment so he was left to depend on the  kindness of others.  How the two decided to make this trip together isn't told, but we can conclude that Mr. McNamer expected some help from the newly-elected president, and needed an able-bodied companion.  
  
        In the Fall of l860, they took the Vandalia train at Reelsville to Indianapolis.  From Indianapolis they went north and west through  Peru, Indiana to Paris, Illinois, then to Springfield.

      The pair went to the Lincoln home where they were met at the front door by a young man who told them Lincoln was at his law office.  As tourists know, the walk downtown to the Lincoln office was and is  a short one. 
    
  They made their way to the office and found him there with other men whom Mr. Humble described as "appearing by their dress and manners to be personages of considerable importance."

      Lincoln immediately came to his visitors and shook hands, inquiring into the circumstances of Mr. McNamer's condition.  He listened to Humble's story of the misfortune, then sat down and wrote a check for five dollars.  Jacob Humble later cashed the check for McNamer at a Springfield bank.

      He later described the future president as  "very tall, dark complexioned, and with a large acquiline nose."

      Humble volunteered for service in the Union Army August 8, l862 and was mustered out in April, l865, as a member of the 7lst Regiment of Indiana Volunteers which reorganized as the Sixth Indiana Cavalry.  The writer of the original story of Jacob Humble and Bryant McNamer  ended thusly:  "Mr. Humble bears the scars both on body and health of service in the cause for which Lincoln gave his life....to have served long and faithfully as a soldier under Abraham Lincoln is an honor to be greatly esteemed; to have talked with the martyred president, to have looked into his kindly eyes and clasped his hand...may well be highly prized by any American and remembered as an historic event."

        In l9l5 when this story was given to a reporter, Jacob Humble was 83.

      We wish to know  who was the young man at the Lincolns' front door...who were the men in the president- elect's office..what happened to Bryant McNamer and did the two  have any discussion about cashing Lincoln's check?   The last Civil War veteran died in my lifetime.  I believe this is true of Spanish-American War veterans.  Interview a veteran you know now.  Ask all the important questions..

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