Abe Lincoln Day

The Farmers’ Almanac is declaring August 22nd as “Abe Lincoln Day”. As a young attorney, Abraham Lincoln, represented many clients. But, there is one story that has become a legend. In May 1858, Lincoln served as the defense attorney in the murder trial of William “Duff” Armstrong. Armstrong’s father was an old family friend who passed away a year earlier. Hannah, his widow, traveled to Springfield to beg Lincoln to represent her son from this murder conviction. Lincoln agreed to do so under the condition that he would not be paid.

The entire case rested on the testimony of one witness, Charles Allen. As the only prosecution witness, he claimed that around 11pm on the night of Saturday 29, 1857, at a religious camp meeting in Virgin’s Grove Ill., he saw Armstrong kill James Preston Metzker. Allen said that Armstrong committed the murder using a “slingshot”. Despite being a 150 feet from the fight scene, he claimed to have a perfect view of the fight thanks to the light of an almost full moon “nearly in mid-heavens” (reference to the Moon’s southing or meridian passage). The prosecutor thought he had an airtight case.

Lincoln made the witness repeat his story several times reliving the brightness of the moon that night. Then Lincoln made a motion to use an 1857 almanac. No one knows which almanac but it was possible that it was volume 40 of the Farmers’ Almanac. In fact in the classic 1939 film Young Mr. Lincoln, Henry Fonda, in the leading role, implores the witness to “look at this…. it’s the Farmers’ Almanac, Go ahead look at it!.”

Consulting the pages of the almanac Lincoln proved that at the time of the incident, the moon was low in the sky and going out – not at all as the witness claimed. Believing the almanac and not Charles Allen, the jury ended up acquitting Duff Armstrong.

This makes for good lawyering and dramatics on the big screen.. Many people felt that “Honest Abe” might have prepared a fake almanac to prove his case. But, this claim so floored Mr. Allen, that he confessed to lying. Why mention it now?

For those historians among us, the exact conditions that existed that night will exist in our skies tonight – August 22nd. Check our calendar page for August. On Wednesday, August 22, note the Moon symbol with the cusps pointing up, indicating that the gibbous Moon tonight will be “running low”. About an hour later you’ll see the Moon crossing the southern meridian (in mid heavens”) And, three hours later, you’ll find the Moon hovering low on the southwest horizon, just as it was on that fateful Saturday night in late August 1857.

When we claim that we are 100% accurate, we refer to our astronomical information. For the weather, we are told that we run a healthy, but not perfect 80% – 85%. To read the entire article for the 2007 edition click here.

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