The expression, “George Washington slept here,” is a little overused, and if used in Niagara County at all, should be drawn into serious question. On the other hand, if the expression is brought up to date a little closer in time to “Abraham Lincoln slept here,” there would be a few opportunities in Niagara County where a good case could be made for the truth of the adage.

Like any number of other Americans, the lure of the Falls also brought Abraham Lincoln to Niagara. We know from the Cataract House hotel register that Illinois Attorney, Abraham Lincoln, and his family, were guests of the hotel in 1857.

A few years later in 1861, another impact of Lincoln was felt locally when President Abraham Lincoln sent out a call for 75,000 men to enlist to fight the Civil War. A prominent local lawyer, George Cothran, answered the call and recruited a company of 155 men. The company was known as Cothran’s Light Battery. Local papers carried the following recruitment notice. “Bring out the Big Guns! Canoneers to your Posts: Artillery to the Rescue! Term of enlistment 26 months or shorter as the President may determine. Each member of the battery rides a horse or an artillery carriage and carries no knapsack or burden whatever. Rally before it is too late! Your brothers in the field are everywhere confronted by superior numbers.”

A letter to the Lockport Daily Journal relates that Cothran’s Battery became known as “Cothran’s Bummers” in the South. It seemed the men had taken to foraging for their food needs among the homesteads of the good people of Dixie. Although the unit had been warned against such behavior by the military brass, Cothran’s men placed the needs of the soldiers ahead of those of the Confederate. The Yankees had enough to eat at home, so they figured they were entitled to eat well while away from home on this temporary southern assignment. Therefore, from time to time, a non-regulation Confederate turkey or other piece of choice meat would simply find its way into camp and become the next day’s prime entrée. If the captain demanded to know the source of the feast, the men would always respond that Mrs. Lincoln sent it to camp!

Perhaps Niagara’s final contact with President Lincoln can be found in the passage of his funeral train through Lockport on its way to Buffalo. The train did not make a stop but slowed to a crawl through the city in April 1865 so that area residents could pay their final respects to this backwoodsman turned president.

Douglas Farley, Director
Erie Canal Discover Center
24 Church St.
Lockport NY 14094
716.439.0431
CanalDiscovery@aol.com
www.NiagaraHistory.org