Won the 1860 election over the two democratic candidates Stephen A. Douglas
and John C. Breckinridge by a popular vote of 1,865,593 to 1,382,713 and
848,356 and an electoral vote of 180 to 12 and 72. Was reelected in 1864 over
George B. McClellan by votes of 2,206,938 to 1,803,787 and 212 to 21. Hannibal
Hamlin served as vice-president during his first term 1861-1865, Andrew
Johnson during his second term until his assassination by John Wilkes Booth
on Good Friday, April 14, 1865 at Ford's Theater. Called "Honest Abe".

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There are those who say, and not without reason, that Lincoln was the son of John C. Calhoun, whose home still stands on Fort Hill at Clemson, and Nancy Hank of Craytonville. Conclusive proof is lacking but there is proof enough to lend substantial credence to the theory. Lincoln never claimed to be of legitimate birth. To the contrary, William H. Herndon, Lincoln's law partner, claims that Lincoln told him on more than one occasion that he, Lincoln, was an illegitimate. Herndon also said that Lincoln was a he-man, not a melancholic sentimentalist and when occasion demanded could swear in a most eloquent manner.
If Lincoln was an illegitimate, this is not to be held against him. Some of the greatest men in history were illegitimates. Still, the story that he was the son of John C. Calhoun and Nancy Hanks is intriguing enough to justify placing the evidence on exhibit for all to see.
In the beginning, to lend further strength to the illegitimacy theory, we refer to the memoirs of the late Harold Ickes, Secretary of the Interior during the Roosevelt administration. Ickes tells of a conversation he overheard between Roosevelt and the Librarian of Congress. The subject was the purchase of a private collection of Lincoln letters and other papers. The Librarian of Congress quibbled, "Mr. President, " he said, “if these letters are purchased they will become public property and will prove beyond doubt that Lincoln was an illegitimate. Shall we decline to purchase the collection, or shall we purchase it and suppress or destroy papers relating to Lincoln' s paternity?” To this Ickes quoted Roosevelt as replying, “Purchase it and destroy nothing. Whether or not Lincoln was an illegitimate has nothing to do with his greatness.”

Those readers who wish more than just an assemblage of words should visit the Ebenezer cemetery, south of Anderson and near the Abbeville county line. Here they will find a tombstone erected to Luke Hanks, born October, 1774, died April, 1856. He was the son of Ann and Luke Hanks, and brother of Nancy Hanks. Nearby are ancient tombstones erected to other members of the Hanks family. Parents of Nancy Hanks are buried in the original Hanks graveyard, now deserted to grass and brambles. Their graves are unknown, for native rock slabs protrude here. They bear no inscriptions.
A few miles southward from the Ebenezer community, is Craytonville, a thriving town in the early years of Anderson county and the site of Orr’s tavern. It was operated by Jehu Orr, a veteran of the Revolution. The same tavern had earlier been operated by Ann Hanks.
The tavern had a bar. Nancy Hanks was a barmaid. Orr took over the tavern in 1817. Mention of the tavern introduces into the picture John C. Calhoun, South Carolina’s greatest statesman.
Calhoun returned to his home on an Abbeville county farm from the law school in Litchfield, Connecticut, in 1807 and commenced the practice of law. He had frequent business in Pendleton, seat of government for the Pendleton District. Craytonville was midway between Abbeville and Pendleton. Calhoun often stopped at this tavern for the night. He found the food there quite satisfying, and a certain maid good to look upon. Her name was Nancy Hanks.

Now it is known that Luke and Ann Hanks had a daughter by the name of Nancy who disappeared when a young woman. She was the same Nancy Hanks who worked at the Craytonville tavern; the girl who appealed to John C. Calhoun, the young lawyer.

Shortly after the close of the War Between The States in the historic Burt home in Abbeville, General Armstead Burt confided to friends the story of Nancy Hanks. Along about the same time, James L. Orr, of Anderson, then Governor of South Carolina related the same story. In earlier years, John Hanks, grandson of Luke and Ann Hanks, confirmed in the presence of witnesses all that was said in later years.

General Burt married John C. Calhoun's niece. He was a lifelong friend of the Calhoun family. It was at his house that Jefferson Davis and the Confederate Cabinet met for the last time. Following Lincoln's assassination, General Burt told a group of friends in the utmost secrecy that the greatest trial in Calhoun's life was caused by a young woman named Nancy Hanks and when things came to the worst he hired a young man named Lincoln to take her away. This Lincoln was a hog drover, a native of Kentucky. In 1809, Lincoln arrived in Pendleton District with a number of other men and a drove of Tennessee hogs. After selling the hogs, Lincoln was hired to go to Charleston (or Ninety Six) to bring back a cannon for an artillery company which had been organized in proximity of Craytonville. In due time he returned not only the cannon but a keg of rum in addition. This is now known as "The Old Reformer". It stands on the plaza in Anderson. The rum vanished long ago.
Lincoln was not exactly a freelancer. At times he worked for a man named Abe Enloe, a large cattle and slave dealer. Enloe lived in what is now Buncombe county, North Carolina and maintained quite a bit of livestock at Craytonville. Following the expedition to secure the cannon,
Lincoln remained in Craytonville to look after Abe Enloe's interest.
Here he made the acquaintance of John C. Calhoun, who was in quite a "picklement”. He had discovered that Nancy Hanks was well along the way toward giving birth to a child of which he was the father. On learning that Lincoln planned to return to Kentucky within a short time, Calhoun employed him to carry her to the home of her uncle Joseph Hanks, who lived in Elizabethton, Kentucky.
Nancy left Craytonville on horseback, riding behind Lincoln. Nancy's child was born in North Carolina, where Lincoln stopped to talk business with Abe Enloe.

Mrs. Fannie Calhoun Marshall, of Abbeville, who died some 30 years ago at the age of 102, always maintained that Abraham Lincoln was the son of John C. Calhoun and Nancy Hanks. She too, was in a position to know. Was she not a Calhoun herself? On the other side of the fence the Hankses never denied Lincoln's mother was a native of Anderson county. For years they were silent on the matter, however, possibly because of sectional animosities aroused by the War Between The States.

In 1910, in the presence of J.D. Hanks and John F. Martin, Laura Hanks, then an aged woman (having been born in 1841) said that since her marriage into the Hanks family she had heard of Nancy Hanks' affair with John C. Calhoun and Nancy’s subsequent escape into Kentucky. She knew most of the Hanks boys and girls. Some left South Carolina and died in the west. Luke and George died in Anderson county. She could tell all about their burying and where and who preached Luke's funeral. Mrs. Hanks' statement was written down by Motte Barns, of Anderson. Also in 1910, Jesse McGee, then 85, made the following statement to Knotts: “I married Squire James Emerson's daughter in 1852, and settled down and have lived all these years right here in the midst of the Hanks family. Squire Emerson took great interest in tracing out the connection between the Hanks family in this county and Abraham Lincoln. He found that there was no doubt about Nancy Hanks being the mother of Lincoln."

The late Mrs. A.B. Byrd, of Belton, whose first husband was Dr.W.C. Brown, brother of the late Governor Joe Brown, of Georgia, made an interesting statement throwing much light on the Lincoln tradition, of which the following is a synopsis:
In 1856, Mrs. Byrd married Dr. W.C. Brown, who was practicing medicine at Belton, and along about that time Abraham Lincoln became prominent as a candidate for the presidency. One day “Uncle Johnnie” Hanks, for whose family Dr. Brown was physician, came for some medicine.
In Mrs. Byrd's presence, Dr. Brown asked Hanks if all those reports about Nancy Hanks, Lincoln and Calhoun were true. He replied, "I am sorry to tell you, Doctor, that they are. Nancy was my father's sister and I know what I’m talking about.” Hanks then related how Calhoun frequently stopped at the tavern at Craytonville two or three days at a time and hunted and fished with the Hanks boys. When the family found out about Nancy’s condition, Nancy asked the privilege of staying until she could communicate with her uncle in Kentucky and procure a home. Calhoun, who had caused her sorrow, had promised to give her $500 to carry her where she wanted to go.

In his Random Thoughts and Musings of a Mountaineer, Judge Felix writes, "Hon. Thomas G. Clemson was John C. Calhoun’s son-in-law. His private library is in the possession of Clemson College. It has, for a long time, been rumored that in the library there are documents that prove beyond all preadventure that John C. Calhoun was the father of Abraham by Nancy Hanks. The rumor is also that these documents are not open to the public, and that notwithstanding such rumor, no one has been heard to deny the existence of the documents referred to.”
Shortly after close of the War Between the States, Lincoln's old law partner, William H. Herndon, wrote a biography of the late president. Herndon stated that several times Lincoln told him that he (Lincoln) was illegitimate. When the first edition of the biography was placed on the market, Lincoln-loving fanatics frantically sought to buy up the books and destroy them. They also brought great pressure to bear on Herndon. This resulted in the first edition being withdrawn. The book was then "toned down" to omit all references to illegitimacy. There still are, however, at least half a dozen copies of the original edition in existence.

Judge Felix Alley produces a tremendous amount of evidence that Tom Lincoln carried Nancy Hanks from Craytonville to the plantation of Abe Enloe in North Carolina; that Lincoln was born there and named Abraham after Abraham Enloe. Later, Tom Lincoln carried Nancy on to Kentucky to the home of her uncle, Joseph Hanks. Meanwhile he formed an affinity for the unfortunate girl and later married her, thus providing the infant Abraham with the surname of Lincoln.

It was not until long after Lincoln's death, that any record evidence of the-marriage of Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks was found. Herndon and Ward H. Lamon in the biographies of Lincoln had each asserted that after the most diligent search, no records could be found. However, in 1878, W.F. Booker, Clerk of Court of Washington county, Kentucky, found what purported to be a certificate of Jesse Head, a Methodist Deacon or minister, setting forth that he did perform a marriage ceremony for Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks on the 22nd of September, 1806. The authenticity of this and other records has been questioned by several authors. They are believed to be clever forgeries. Marriage certificates were virtually unknown until about 50 years ago.

Just when Lincoln was born is a matter open to question. Many years after the death of his mother and the death of Thomas Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln made an entry in his stepmother’s Bible that he was born February 12, 1809. Truth is, he probably didn't know when he was born; just selected this date at random, considering it to be "as good as any".

After Lincoln's death, his personal papers were impounded and placed in trust of his son, Robert Todd Lincoln, who became president of the Pullman Sleeping Car Co. and who survived until the late 1930s. One day in about 1932 a friend called on Robert Todd Lincoln and found him busily engaged in burning a portion of his father's papers. When the friend protested, Lincoln said, "History has been written and there is no point in changing it at this late a day".

Copied at Abbeville Courthouse, South Carolina District of Abbeville:
This agreement made and entered into on the 19th day of February 1809. I John C. Calhoun of the said state and district, of the first part and Nancy Hanks of the second part, for and in the consideration of the sum of $100.00 per year, to be paid to Nancy Hanks, for the support of an illegitimate son born February 12, 1809. The said sum of money to be paid to Christopher Orr, who shall act as guardian for said child.
John C. Calhoun Signed in the presence of, and on the above mentioned date. Witness Christopher Orr, Robert Brown Norris, Thomas Lincoln.