"Lincoln’s Magician" Topic

"IN EARLY JULY 1863, AS THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG WAS ENDING some 80 miles to the north, President Abraham Lincoln took a break from monitoring Civil War hostilities to watch a rehearsal for Washington, D.C.'s forthcoming Independence Day parade. The route for that dry run was near Lincoln's summertime getaway, a three-mile horseback ride from the often sweltering White House grounds, and among the other spectators that day was Antonio Van Zandt, an accomplished British-born magician whose stage name was Signor Blitz.

As the marchers passed him, Blitz suddenly reached out and yanked a bird from a girl's hair, stopping the awed procession in its tracks. Then, as the crowd pressed in around him, Blitz performed several dazzling sleight-of-hand tricks, including pulling an egg from the mouth of the president's 10-year-old son, Tad. When a bystander introduced the president to the 53-year-old magician, who often performed his act for wounded soldiers, Lincoln replied, "Why, of course, it's Signor Blitz, one of the most famous men in America." Lincoln was so enamored of Blitz that he invited him to the White House, where the skilled conjurer made a bird appear in the president's famous stovepipe hat. A note attached to its wing read "Victory, General Grant"—a prescient reference to the Battle of Vicksburg, which the storied Federal army commander would soon win…."
Main page
link

Amicalement
Armand

What a wonderful little article. I had no idea Lincoln was interested in magicians. Thank you for finding this.

A votre service mon ami!. (smile)

Amicalement
Armand