Abe Lincoln's Legendary Bout in 1831

The smoky air hung thick inside the Offutt's Rough and Ready settlement saloon that hot August night in 1831. 22-year-old Abe Lincoln nursed his whiskey, eyes narrowed against the haze. He'd been spoiling for a real tussle. These sweaty-palmed ruffians from Clary's Grove would do just fine.

A burly 25-year-old lout by the name of Jack Armstrong swaggered through the batwing doors, meaty fists swinging at his sides. The very sight of the local bully got Abe's blood pumping hot. He drained his glass and stood, looming at 6'4" over the crowded room.

Armstrong sneered through rotted teeth. "The rail-splitter thinks he's a wrestler, boys."

Abe said nothing. His steely-eyed gaze spoke volumes.

Chairs scraped back as the drunken louts eagerly cleared a space, whooping for the bloodletting to come. The two titans slowly circled, measuring each other up and down. You could hear a pin drop when at last they came together in a fierce grapple.

What ensued was a veritable tornado of flying limbs and groans of exertion. The very floor shook with the impacts of those grappling behemoths. Abe was a wiry bundle of tough sinewy muscle, honed by years of swinging an axe. But Armstrong was the burlier of the two, his low center of gravity difficult to uproot.

Back and forth they battled for over an hour, the crowd howling like demons each time one rocked the other with a devastating blow. Sweat poured from their brows as the intense struggle stretched on into the smoky night. Just when it seemed Armstrong's superior bulk would carry the day, Abe reached deep into his reserves and locked in his signature "leg-twister" move.

Armstrong soon found himself trapped in the vice-like grapple, pounding the floorboards in submission. Abe glared down at him, chest heaving. The victor rose unsteadily, accepting a fresh glass of whiskey from an awe-struck admirer. He drained it in one long pull, then strode from the saloon and out into the frontier night, his legend growing taller with each step.

Years later in 1861, when the terrible Civil War threatened to tear the nation asunder, it was this same unbreakable spirit that sustained the 52-year-old Abe Lincoln through the darkest hours of his presidency. No matter how dire the circumstances, he would never submit or yield an inch to the forces of oppression and disunion. His wrestling days had instilled an inner iron that could never be bent or broken.

So remember the tale of Lincoln's legendary 1831 wrestling bout the next time you find yourself in a smoky saloon brawl...Abe Lincoln's Legendary Bout in 1831