bullies who were called the grove boys, challenged him to a wrestling match to meet their champion, jack armstrong. well, there's a kind of flap doodle over the question whether in this brutal wrestling match that ensued that lincoln use add chokehold on armstrong. and if you want to nope the details of the wrestling match, they're covered very well in a book by douglas wilson called "honor's voice" and also the evidence that survives from this is sifted very well by michael burlingame. whatever lincoln -- whatever holds lincoln used, the outcome that most people saw at the time and reported to us later was that lincoln acquitted himself well against jack armstrong, and that he gained the respect and leadership aura that he retained among common men forever after. now historians all know that this armstrong incident had great significance. they usually point to its political significance as leader of men, but i don't think they noticed the military significance. basically lincoln thought of battle as a big wrestling match. with not much science to it. and here's my evidence. at one point in august

bullies who were called the grove boys, challenged him to a wrestling match to meet their champion, jack armstrong. well, there's a kind of flap doodle over the question whether in this brutal wrestling match that ensued that lincoln use add chokehold on armstrong. and if you want to nope the details of the wrestling match, they're covered very well in a

people saw at the time and reported to us later was that lincoln acquitted himself well against jack armstrong, and that he gained the respect and leadership aura that he retained among common men forever after. now historians all know that this armstrong incident had great significance. they usually point to its political significance as leader of men, but i don't think they noticed the military significance. basically lincoln thought of battle as a big wrestling match. with not much science to it. and here's my evidence. at one point in august 1864 while u.s. grant was besieging petersberg, grant received a kind of panicky letter from general halek in washington suggesting the need to divert as many as 20,000 soldiers to the home front because they feared resistance to the draft. and, well, grant didn't want to do this and he thought that any domestic troubles could be handled by the state militias, and when lincoln saw, he agreed with grant and couldn't help intervening. he sent grant a terse telegram on august 17, 1864. and he said, quote, i have seen your dispatch expressing your unwillin

bullies who were called the grove boys, challenged him to a wrestling match to meet their champion, jack armstrongwell, th