How tall are you? When were you born? Why would anyone want to shoot you?
Those are just a few of the many questions from Bobby Ray Elementary students tossed at Abraham Lincoln impersonator Dennis Boggs on Thursday.
Born on Feb. 12, 1809, Lincoln would be 212 years old on Friday, Boggs told students during assembly programs at the school. Lincoln had just turned 56 and was only months into his second term as U.S. President when he was shot by John Wilkes Booth in the back of the head while watching a play at Ford’s Theatre.
“He didn’t shoot Lincoln because he was mad he freed the slaves,” said Boggs. “He didn’t shoot him because he was mad the South lost the war. The one and only reason he shot Lincoln was because he thought it would make him famous. But it didn’t make him famous. It made him infamous.”
For 20 years, Boggs has been doing programs dressed as Abraham Lincoln and he usually does about 200 a year. He told Bobby Ray students this was his first live program since last March due to coronavirus.
Boggs said he’s done programs all over the nation, as far away as Seattle, California, Texas and New Hampshire. A Nashville resident, he was raised in Fayetteville, Tenn.
Boggs told the students how Lincoln was born in a one-floor, one-room log cabin in rural Kentucky. The cabin had one door, one window and a dirt floor.
His family moved to Indiana when he was 7 and his mother died when he was 9 after she drank bad milk. Boggs explained to students that milk today is very safe, but that wasn’t always the case 200 years ago.
One student asked about Lincoln’s favorite thing to do.
“He loved to read,” said Boggs. “And if you asked him what book was his favorite, he’d say ‘The book I’m reading now.’”
Lincoln, who grew to be 6-foot-4 with size 15 shoes, did not like the hard labor associated with farm life and his family members often called him lazy because of all the time he wanted to spend reading and writing.
Another student asked, “Did Lincoln die when he was shot?”
“He was shot at 10:10 p.m. on April 14, which was Good Friday,” said Boggs. “He didn’t die right then. They took him downstairs and across the street and laid him in a bed, a bed which was way too small for him. He laid there for nine hours and never opened his eyes until he died on April 15.”
Another student asked, “When did they capture the guy who shot him?”
“It was two weeks later when they found him hiding in a barn,” said Boggs. “They tried to get him to come out but he wouldn’t so they set fire to the barn. Word had come down that John Wilkes Booth was to be taken alive, but a soldier disregarded those orders and stuck his gun through a hole in the barn and shot Booth in the back of the neck.”
Another student asked, “What did Lincoln sound like?”
Boggs told the assembly there were no radios or TVs at that time and Lincoln’s voice was never recorded. He said four different accounts he’s read about Lincoln’s voice all describe it the same way as being very high-pitched.
Boggs said Lincoln decided to run for president because he thought he could make positive changes. When Boggs was asked if he would like to be president, he said, “absolutely not.”
Boggs, 70, said he’s been reading about Lincoln nearly every day for 20 years. He said he modifies his presentation with age-appropriate material depending on the group he’s addressing. He has given presentations for kindergartners all the way up to adults.
