I’ve been researching some songs for my Civil War program, and I was rather shocked to find that in Lincoln’s administration, Septimus Winner, the man who wrote “Listen to the Mockingbird” (see earlier post) was arrested for treason during the Civil War because he wrote a song calling for the reinstatement of McClellan as commander of the Federal Army. I was shocked, not because Lincoln arrested someone who wrote and said things he didn’t like, but because the offense seems so harmless.  One site I found says this of Mr. Winner: “During the Civil War, Winner was greatly affected by the political atmosphere. His composition “Give Us Back Our Old Commander: Little Mac, the People’s Pride,” was written in plea to President Lincoln for the return of Union General McClellan who had been removed from command. The song was considered anti-Union and Winner spent a brief time in jail on a charge of treason. Winner was released from jail only after agreeing to destroy all remaining copies of the song.” You can read Winner’s full biography and achievements here:

Unfortunately, the sanitized, revised, mythologized version of Abraham Lincoln is the only Lincoln that many people know. Lew Rockwell has an extensive list of free articles you can read about Abraham Lincoln. These articles make good reading for high school and college students. You can find that list here:

Here is a poster of Lincoln from a Confederate point of view: