Thumb through any account textbook , or check any Hollywood biopic , and you ’ll see a middling consistent variation of Abraham Lincoln ’s chronicle . The solemn , self-respecting loss leader who help free the slaves and pass America through the Civil War is someone almost everyone learn about by the time they ’re out of grammar school day . But before he pace into the political scene of action , the man who would finally become president was a combatant of a different variety : a wrestler on the American frontier .
support at an impressive 6 feet , 4 inches grandiloquent , with lanky arms dead design to tie his opposite in air mile , Lincoln was a illustrious grappler know for his peerless strength and cutting mind in his teen and early twenty . Remember , though , writhe in rural 19th century America did n’t have the fluid grace of an Olympic contest , and it surely was n’t the garish ethics play of the WWE . No , this stylus of grappling was a pure test of strength , with scrapper lock in hooter to show their dominance in front of an audience mostly made up of inebriate , gambler , soldier , or some combination of the three . Known as arrest - as - catch - can style , this brand of grappling is best described as " more mitt - to - hand combatthan summercater . "
vaunt just one going among his 300 ( or so ) competition , Lincoln gained a report among the New Salem , Illinois , locals as an elite fighter , finally make his county ’s wrestling championship . He knew just how good he was , too . After one victory , Lincoln reportedly search at the crowd and bellowedwhat passed for trash talkat the time : “ I ’m the full-grown buck of this lick . If any of you desire to taste it , come on and whet your horns . ” The challenge would go unrequited .
Lincoln ’s most memorable competition cameagainst Jack Armstrong , a member of the rough and furrowed Clary ’s Grove Boys . When Armstrong see tale of Lincoln ’s famous strength ( from Lincoln ’s party boss , no less ) , he challenged the succeeding president to a match . Crowds tuck . Money was wagered . And when the bust was over , Lincoln again stand tall , as he always seemed to .
Some versions of this story claim that Lincoln challenged each member of Armstrong ’s gang to individual fights after they attempted to interfere in the match before a clean victor was declared . Armstrong , admitting defeat , reportedly called off his friend and became lifelong friends with Lincoln . While accounts disagree on the last moments of the battle , it ’s clear Lincoln had earned the respect of not only Armstrong , but the vicinity as a whole .
Biographer William O. Stoddardwrote of the compeer :
To this day , historians can only findone instancewhere Lincoln was outflank during a match . It occurred while he was a part of the Illinois Volunteers during theBlack Hawk Warof 1832 , when a man named Hank Thompson became the only man to in reality cast Lincoln during a bout for his regiment ’s championship .
While Thompson may have claim the title , Lincoln ’s reputation as a dread wrestler — and beloved chair — was reinforce in 1992 when he was inducted into theOutstanding Americanwing of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame . He ’s joined there by three other president : George Washington , Teddy Roosevelt , and William Howard Taft . None of them , however , quite match Lincoln ’s mystique as a wish-wash - spill the beans , grappling frontiersman .
