Honest Abe, Cock Fightin' Man

From the You Learn Something New Every Day Dept.:

Abraham Lincoln got his famous nickname because he was so fair while refereeing cockfights!

People don't want to believe it, but even in 1920, efforts to debunk this idea were unsuccessful. From Arthur E. Morgan's 1920 essay in The Atlantic Monthly, "New Light on Lincoln's Boyhood":

I thought to take the opportunity to correct statements which have been written to the effect that Abe Lincoln was fond of cock-fighting; but the reply I got to my inquiry was, 'Cock-fighting was very prevalent in those days, and Abe took considerable interest in it.'

In any event, I learned this little fact (or rather, learned of it, then wasted time partially confirming it), while reading the letters to the New Orleans Times-Picayune regarding the Louisiana legislature's recent debate over finally outlawing cockfighting.

I know it's an utter waste of my time, and I don't want to pick on Louisiana unnecessarily, but seriously people. Cockfighting? A few of my favorite letters:

• "Personal actions on private property should always be legal." OK, buddy. This is a libertarian stance, to be sure, but with a little thought, I think we could come up with a few "personal actions" that he might want to be illegal. Also, there may be a bit of a legal leap to make to classify cockfighting as a "personal action." But I'm no lawyer.
• "Rather than ban cockfighting, we should expand our "death match" offerings." This one is satirical, but it did amuse me.
• "WHY SHOULD THEY BAN COCK FIGHTING? HAVE YOU EVER SEEN BROKEN DOWN THOROUGHBRED RACE HORSES? THIS IS JUST AS CRUEL." Well, kind of. Except for the pecking and clawing each other to death part.
• This one is precious: "You talk about illegal drugs, underage drinking, illegal weapons, you have no clue because for #1 they don't sell alcohol at the fights, #2 why would you carry a gun we are not New Orleans, #3 drugs you don't need drugs to fight roosters. 'Get a life all you non supporters of cock fighting' " Why did she put the "get a life" part in quotes? Why the unnecessary dig at N.O.? Racism is not helping your case, Fay. And re: the alcohol sales, I don't imagine they drive in a beer truck like it's the State Fair, but I have to think a cockfight is kind of a brutal drag without a bottle of Heaven Hill in your hand. (I wrote that little joke before I found this, distilled by the good people at Heaven Hill. Appeals to Gen-X males. Who knew?)
• "First off - I'm not a dumb redneck... Why can't the government concentrate on banning the killing of people?" First off, sad that you have to start an argument this way. And again, Ms. Scott, while I want to reiterate that I am no lawyer, I do believe that the governments of all our 50 states have, in fact, banned the killing of people. It's one of the first things any government does, I'd say. Requires very little concentration.
• And finally: "Cockfighting isn't a barbaric sport, it is a gentlemen/lady sport. . . These are animals that were born to fight."