Hardheadedness and the Lincoln Connection
We’re just in from seeing Steven Spielberg’s magnificent Lincoln. It may be the only movie we’ve seen in 2012, but we highly recommend it all the same. Historically important, interesting and full of intrigue, it made for a perfect rainy Saturday.
In addition to seeing a great film, I appreciated the domestic end of the Lincoln family life. Mary Todd Lincoln always gets a bad rap–whether deserved or not, I cannot say. But the pathos evoked by seeing the martyr president loving his boy Tad, and mourning the three-years-past death of Willie, underscores the tragedy of the Civil War.
Everyone on both sides was affected in some way during those four wretched years of slaughter.
The movie also reminded me of a family story that I used–just as old Abe used stories in his life and in this film–to explain to my niece the definition of ”hardheadedness,” at least in relation to our family.
Abraham Lincoln was president of the United States at the same time his second cousin, Col. James Steele Hanks, served in the army of the Confederate States of America.
Col. James Hanks, CSA
Some of you will remember I’m Hanks’ great-great-granddaughter and thus Abraham Lincoln’s cousin four times removed. (If you’ve seen my photos, you’ll recognize the eyebrows).
During my research (investigated in part to figure out the LIncoln connection), I came across a Hanks family story that perfectly explains my family’s tendency to . . . obstinacy.
It seems the president was visiting a military hospital outside of Washington one day that housed both Union and Confederate soldiers. President Lincoln stopped at one bed when he saw the Hanks name and asked the teenager about his kinfolk.
The boy provided the names and Lincoln nodded. “I know that family. Tell me, how are they doing?”
“Well, Pa died early on and Ma is home on the farm with my six younger brothers and sisters.”
“Is she farming?”
“As best she can, but it’s hard and they’re struggling.”
Lincoln looked the kid in the eye and said, “If you will promise never to pick up arms against the Union again, I’ll grant you a parole and send you home to care for your family. But you can never fight again. Think you can do that?”
“No sir, I can’t do that.”
“Then you’re in for the duration.” The president moved on to the next injured soldier.
My niece listened then asked the obvious question: “What does that have to do with me?”
“It’s helpful to understand that when you behave like a hardhead, to stick to your opinion no matter how it affects other people, you may hurt yourself and others in the long run.”
“But he held to his convictions,” she pointed out.
“True. He preferred his hardheaded convictions about a losing cause to helping his family. How do you think his family back home managed?”
I love family history stories like this because it puts a human spin on great events. Abraham Lincoln was also hardheaded; he had to be (as the movie explains) to hold the union together despite potentially illegal decisions.
Challenging times require strong people to remain true to the principles which guide them; people whom God chose to live in such times. The movie touches on this theme as well.
Hardheaded? Tender at the core? Principled?
All were hallmarks of Abraham Lincoln–and of my family, too.
