The following is taken from Author and Pioneer Era Pro Wrestling Historian Karl Stern’s book DragonKingKarl’s Pioneer Era Pro Wrestling Omnibus.
1831:
Wrestling is regularly being held in England with numerous tournaments taking place across the country. There are often wrestling tournaments taking place on multiple nights being reported in the London newspapers. In this book we are primarily focused on the evolution of American entertainment style pro wrestling but the genesis of that type wrestling is found here in the tournaments and games of Europe and is exported to the United States by immigrants.
The exact date of the Abraham Lincoln verses Jack Armstrong match has been lost to time, but in 1831 most historians and biographers agree that Abraham Lincoln had his famous match at Denton Offut's General Store in New Salem, IL with John Jack Armstrong. The most credible version of the story has the match ending in a draw after Armstrong fouls Lincoln for a throw. Abraham Lincoln and John Jack Armstrong eventually become friends and both continue to wrestle.
The Abraham Lincoln Research website has this to say about the match: “The Clary's Grove boys... were a loud, reckless, frontier crowd who enjoyed fighting and drinking. They boasted they could wrestle better and hit harder than any other group throughout Illinois. At times they could also be generous and good-natured. Their leader was a man named Jack Armstrong.
Denton Offutt, in whose store Lincoln was a clerk, bragged that his employee was mentally and physically superior to any of the Clary's Grove boys. He openly said Lincoln could whip any man in the community. Hearing of Offutt's boasting, Jack Armstrong challenged Lincoln to a wrestling match. Lincoln accepted.
The entire town turned out for the fight. Offutt bet $10 Lincoln would win. Other residents wagered money, drinks, even trinkets and knives. Lincoln was 6' 4" and weighed 185 pounds, but Jack Armstrong was an experienced, formidable opponent. Although he was smaller than Lincoln, he was as strong as an ox. The stage was set.
For a time, the two scufflers circled each other warily. They did some grappling and twisting, but neither man could throw the other to the ground. Slowly, Armstrong began to get the worst of it. Finally, Lincoln grabbed the bully by the neck, held him at arm's length, and shook him like a little boy...
Jack Armstrong was impressed with Abraham Lincoln's display of courage. He came forward, took Lincoln's hand and shook it heartily. He looked at his friends and said, "Boys, Abe Lincoln is the best fellow that ever broke into this settlement. He shall be one of us." From then on, Abraham Lincoln and Jack Armstrong were the best of friends! Lincoln had a calming influence on the whole gang of Clary's Grove boys, and his charisma had the effect of repressing their violence...”
In Honor's Voice: The Transformation of Abraham Lincoln by Douglas L. Wilson, a wrestling match eyewitness named Rowan Herndon, said, "After striving a long time without either man prevailing, Lincoln said: 'Jack, let's quit. I can't throw you - you can't throw me.' Armstrong agreed and the matter was ended in fun."
Another website called Mr. Lincoln and Friends had this to say about the match: “There was a big fellow named Jack Armstrong, strong as a Russian bear, that I could not put down; nor could he get me on the ground,” Mr. Lincoln once recalled. “I suppose you have heard of Lincoln’s wrestling match with Jack Armstrong. I saw part of that. [Jack] Armstrong was one of the Clary Grove gang and it was their habit to initiate newcomers into town. Lincoln was tall, ungainly, awkward, and was bantered by this crowd,” recalled New Salem resident Daniel Green Burner... “They went at it, and Lincoln just fooled with Armstrong until he had tired him completely out. Then he swung his long leg over Armstrong’s neck and made Armstrong run around holding him up in that position. Jack finally begged off, admitting he was beaten and offered Lincoln the $10, which Lincoln refused to take." John T. Stuart, who was Mr. Lincoln’s mentor and first law partner said “The champion of the clan, Jack Armstrong was selected to wrestle with Lincoln and to show him that although six feet three he was no man at all compared with the ‘Boys.’
It did not take Jack long to discover that he had got hold of the wrong customer; and when it was evident that Lincoln was getting the better of their champion the whole Band pitched in and gave Lincoln several blows which had no very salutary effect on the strength of his legs. Lincoln however took all this in perfect good humor and by laughing and joking displayed such an excellent disposition that he at once won their hearts and was invited to become one of the company. This was the turning point in Lincoln’s life.
Historian Douglas L. Wilson wrote: “Though not the technical winner of the match, Abraham Lincoln came away with other prizes. He acquitted himself well in the eyes of the community at large. He made a friend of Armstrong and established himself as a favorite with the rough-and-ready crowd in the neighborhood of New Salem. Armstrong’s friendship came to mean much, including a family with whom to lodge from time to time and someone, in Hannah Armstrong, to launder and mend his clothes. The goodwill of the Clary’s Grove boys earned him the captain-ship of the local militia unit and a first taste of leadership when, some months later, he was summoned to duty in the Black Hawk War. In addition to being captain of their company, Lincoln distinguished himself by upholding their honor in the obligatory wrestling matches that enlivened the long and largely uneventful bivouacs of the volunteers.”
William O. Stoddard wrote: “The episode was full of important consequences to Abraham Lincoln. His courage and prowess had been thoroughly tested and had made a deep impression upon the minds of his rough neighbors. He was in no danger of further challengers from any of them, and Jack Armstrong avowed himself the fast friend of the man who had given him so good a shaking. The further results were only a question of time, for the wrestling match which was not won by either of the contestants gained for Abe Lincoln a strong and devoted, if somewhat turbulent, constituency. Mr. Lincoln later told a friend that the “Clary boys intended to whip [him] & run him off.”
Over the years the story of the wrestling match between Abraham Lincoln and Jack Armstrong took on a ridiculous mythology. Anyone researching the match has to deal with outlandish statements which claim Abraham Lincoln wrestled hundreds of matches without ever losing a single one. Or, that Abraham Lincoln made a fool out of Jack Armstrong, pressed him over his head, slammed him to the ground, and was the absolute unmistakable victor.
These stories are likely later embellishments to bolster the story of Lincoln’s pre-Presidential life and often were created or told in newspapers long after Lincoln’s death and many years removed from the actual match.
05-11-1831: In Richmond, VA a publication called Annals of Sporting begins publication and covers results of boxing and wrestling matches among other sports. It is said to include both plain and colored sketches.
06-09-1831: Jacob H. Martin was born in Romulus, NY, though later moved and lived in Ypsilanti, MI. He held Col. James H. McLaughlin to two draws in 1876 when McLaughlin was the unbeaten American champion before finally losing to him in the fall of that year. The newspapers were often skeptical of his matches including the third match against McLaughlin. He died November 29, 1911 just over a month after McLaughlin himself died.
08-18-1831: Buford, SC, James McGill was killed in a wrestling match with Henry Hall. A criminal inquest was undertaken but it was determined that the death was the result of a fall taken in the match and ultimately ruled an accident.
