The Last Civil War Veteran

Currently I am at the station, where preparations for the Gettysburg Festival are being made. Late paintings of the late Larry Rivers are hanging on our walls. Some of them are gorgeous, leading me to a Google search, leading me to this (somewhat disturbing) sketch he did of Edwin Denby, claimed to be the last Civil War veteran.



EDIT: It was brought to my attention that this is actually not the case. Please read the comments for more details.

Washington Square, Ottawa, IL

On our drive home from Iowa (the most westward we went) last week, my parents obliged my nerdiness and stopped at Washington Square in Ottawa, Illinois. It's a gorgeous park now, but on August 21 (my birthday!), 1858, Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas verbally battled in the first of a series of seven slavery-centered debates in the race for a seat in the Senate.
Modern-day Washington Square has a gorgeous fountain
with Lincoln and Douglas statues in the middle. It's definitely the greatest fountain I've ever seen. What I found amusing was how Lincoln is up front, very "Come to me, my people," and Douglas is all "Harrumph!" behind him. I do love Lincoln, but we sure do make him out to be quite godlike, don't we? Lincoln is probably built up even moreso than George Washington, which I think is really saying a lot. In a world of socially-enforced ethical absolutes, it seems if you went up against Lincoln, you are now portrayed as the bad guy. I'm not saying that Lincoln isn't worthy of the praise and image he is given, just that it seems to me that those History has looked upon favorably (or even relatively unfavorably in Douglas's case) can never be portrayed as simply human in art. I suppose it could be debated as to whether this is a good or a bad thing, or even whether it is true.
Across the street from the park, a mural portraying the debate is painted on the side of a building, Douglas in the background looking rather filled with jealousy at Lincoln's eloquence.
Washington Square also contains a very weather-worn Civil War monument. The writing on it is illegible and the faces of the figures carved onto it have disappeared. Unfortunate. From what I remember, it was erected quite shortly after the war, so it's been exposed to the elements for quite a long time now.
In summary, I like Washington Square. A lot. It's a very beautiful park with beautiful monuments and statues. I definitely would recommend a visit to anyone with an interest in 19th century politics... unfortunately I don't know very many people to whom this applies.

Lincoln and me

September in Gettysburg is, frankly, dead as far as tourism goes. And thus my four hours at the train station once a week can seem like a year. Unfortunately, my freaking out about my blood test this morning caused me to forget to bring a book along (currently my book of choice is an encyclopedia of American History). This normally would be no big deal, as I would just play Boomshine to pass the time. Alas! The computer would not let me log in! And so I produced this sketch of Abraham Lincoln. I love how his eyes are sort of crooked but it doesn't matter since they are now saying he was quite unsymmetrical anyway.

Speaking of Mr. Lincoln in all of his unsymmetrical glory, his bust has moved into its home at the station. I'm ashamed that I did not even notice the president's head and shoulders outside until a visitor asked when it'd arrived. Eric and I were able to determine that it must have been sometime within the past week. I was able to greet the bust after showing a couple from D.C. out to Racehorse Alley. I touched a furrow in the jacket and suddenly realized that I have a weird tendency to touch statues and monuments (but I believe only of people, as I cannot recall randomly feeling up the Pennsylvania Monument or any of the other not-people monuments). But I digress. For those who do not know, the bust of Lincoln used to sit in the north-facing doorway of the Wills House until they began renovations. Originally it was supposed to go to the train station in Hanover Junction, but some series of events awarded Mr. Lincoln to us. So far, it's quite nice having him around.