Before he wrestled with the future of American democracy as the 16th president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln earned a reputation as a stud “catch-as-catch-can” frontier grappler. Imagine the 6-foot-4-inch Lincoln (a giant in his day) as the ultimate WWE good guy: “Put your hands together for Honeeeest Abe, the Railsplitter!”
Wrestling has a long history in America. Native Americans wrestled, as did the early colonists. George Washington was a “collar and elbow” wrestler (competitors put one hand behind the opponent’s neck and the other behind the opponent’s elbow). In the Lower Midwest of the 1830s, wrestling was more rough-and-tumble, part test of strength and part hand-to-hand combat.
Lincoln may have had as many as 300 matches. His rep as a wrestler may even have helped him get elected as U.S. president in 1860. Legend has it that he lost only once, in 1832, during the Black Hawk War, to the champion of another volunteer military unit. Their match was to determine which troops would get a preferred campsite. Lincoln’s most famous victory came in 1831 against Jack Armstrong, a nasty, tough local in New Salem, Illinois, whom Lincoln shook into submission.