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www.mybaycity.com April 21, 2005
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Abe Lincoln Says Without Him Slavery May Have Continued Another 50 Years

Famed Re-enactor and Mrs. Lincoln Make Another Appearance in Bay City

April 21, 2005       Leave a Comment
By: Dave Rogers

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Abe Lincoln (alias Fred Priebe) greets TV 5 Newscaster Eric Jylha at the Civil War Round Table Dinner. He is flanked by aides de camp Capt. Gary Batzlaff and Col. Lee Clayton, right, both of Bay City.
 

Without Abraham Lincoln's elections in 1860 and 1864 and the Union victory in the Civil War, slavery might have persisted at least 50 more years in the United States, according to Lincoln re-enactor Fred Priebe, of Belleville.

Mr. Priebe spoketo about 50 persons Thursday night at the second annual dinner of the 7th Michigan Cavalry Civil War Round Table (CWRT) at the Stein Haus.

CWRT Chairperson Dee Dee Wacksman announced that the Stein Haus will be the site of the group's meetings next year.

Mr. Priebe was recently recognized by another President, George W. Bush, and his wife, Laura, at an event in Springfield, Illinois, marking the 140th anniversary of Lincoln's assassination.

"He is definitely a Lincoln man," says Mr. Priebe about the current President.


Asked how the political parties of the Civil War era stack up with those of today, Mr. Priebe opined: "The Democrats today are still for slavery, just as the Democrats of that era. Today it is the economic slavery of entitlement programs they support." Take that, Franklin Roosevelt!

Mr. Priebe confined most of his political commentary to the safer ground of the 1860s, however. He shot barbs at Michigan's radical Republican Senator Zachariah Chandler and had praise for junior Michigan Senator Jacob Howard, who wrote the bill declaring emancipation of the slaves in 1863 that became the 13th amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

"Slavery was an issue from the very beginning and it just kept building and building," said Mr. Priebe.

"Senator Howard's work on the emancipation bill led Mr. Lincoln to 'thank God for Michigan' a second time," Mr. Priebe exclaimed. The first time was in 1861 when the First Michigan Infantry marched in to protect Washington, the first troops from a western state to cross the mountains in defense of the Union.

Mr. Priebe displayed a remarkable knowledge of the politics of the Lincoln era and the slavery issue.

"The important point was blocking the expansion of slavery into the territories," he said. "Eventually the practice would have died out but it would have taken a long time, probably at least 50 years."

Of course that would have meant that slavery would have been government policy until almost the First World War and the nation would never have evolved as it did into the bastion of world freedom, some local historians observed.

The Democrats, with fired General George McLellan as their standard-bearer, pushed for policies allowing soldiers to vote more easily, figuring military men would favor them. It turned out the other way, Mr. Priebe noted, and the soldier vote helped Lincoln to a 400,000 vote majority.

After the 212-21 electoral vote victory, Gen. Ulysses S. Grant messaged Lincoln: "That victory was worth more than a battle won."

President and Mrs. Lincoln had met the actor John Wilkes Booth on several occasions, once when Lincoln went backstage to commend him for a performance. Little did they know, of course, that the man was a Confederate sympathizer who would make an even greater impact by assassinating Lincoln on April 15, 1865.

Anecdotes about a pet turkey named Jack in the White House provideda light-hearted touch to the heavy political turmoil of the time. It seems, according to Mr. Priebe, that Tad Lincoln made a pet of a turkey brought in for a Christmas dinner. Tad called it Jack and wailed against its impending demise for a dinner table delicacy until Lincoln "pardoned" the bird. Just before the election of 1864 the turkey was seen parading with soldiers near the White House and Lincoln wondered how the bird might vote. Tad observed that Jack was too young to vote, and Lincoln allowed ashow the boy was right, according to Mr. Priebe.

The

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Dave Rogers

Dave Rogers is a former editorial writer for the Bay City Times and a widely read,
respected journalist/writer in and around Bay City.
(Contact Dave Via Email at carraroe@aol.com)

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