The Tragic Story of Abraham Lincoln's Last Meal

Abraham Lincoln's last meal is a topic shrouded in historical mystery. On the evening of April 14, 1865, just hours before his tragic assassination at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., Lincoln dined at the White House with his wife Mary Todd Lincoln and their guests, Clara Harris and Major Henry Rathbone. The exact details of the meal remain uncertain, but it is believed to have included a simple yet elegant spread typical of the time, possibly featuring dishes such as roast chicken or beef, vegetables, and bread. Amidst the excitement and anticipation of the evening's entertainment, little attention was paid to the specifics of the meal. Tragically, Lincoln would never finish his last supper, as shortly after the play's commencement, John Wilkes Booth's bullet would forever alter the course of American history. Despite the obscurity surrounding his final meal, the legacy of Abraham Lincoln endures, and his life and leadership are immortalized in the annals of history.
Subscribe: / @eatshistory
Facebook: / itshistoryonair
TikTok: / itshistoryonairl
Contact: [e-mail]
• EAT'S HISTORY PODCAST
• The History of Food
• The History of Drinks
• The History of Restaur...
• The History of Candy
• EAT'S HISTORY FEATURE ...
Chapters:
00:00 - Lincoln's Last Meal
01:09 - The story of Abraham Lincoln
02:36 - Cooking Lincoln's Final Meal
04:40 - Abraham Lincoln's relationship to food
06:54 - Taste Testing Abraham Lincoln's Last Meal
08:39 - The historic debate surrounding Lincoln's Last Meal
» CREDIT
Produced and hosted by the Socash Family
Production by Kamil Krawiec
Script by Dillan Aultimate
» NOTICE
Some images may be used for illustrative purposes only - always reflecting the accurate time frame and content. Events of factual error / mispronounced word/spelling mistakes - retractions will be published in this section.
Copyright ©️ EAT'S HISTORY. All rights reserved.
#EatsHistory #RyanSocash#foodhistory #abrahamlincoln #tastetest

[@Space_Lover4]

You two are so perfect for each other! What an amazing couple ❤ Thank you Ryan for sharing this with us. I LOVE this episode!

[@EATSHISTORY]

Our pleasure!

[@mar4kl]

"Fowl" is really just a synonym for "bird", although in modern-day English, it usually refers to types of birds raised for food. So, absent other information to clarify, "roast Virginia fowl" was most likely chicken, duck or goose. Possibly turkey, although at the time, turkey might not have been considered suitable for fine presidential dining in The White House. Your wife did say something about the meal being basically chicken and potatoes. I was really intrigued by the yams, though. In the USA, yams are synonymous with sweet potatoes. But while I knew there is supposed to be a difference between them, I had never seen the vegetable that your very wise wife was slicing, so I had to look this up. What I learned is that true yams don't grow in the USA, and never have. They're native to the tropical parts of Asia and Africa, so if Abraham Lincoln was eating those, they would have needed to be imported. That wasn't common at the time, so it seems unlikely to me that even The White House chefs would have served real yams. But if Lincoln's yams weren't the real thing, then what were they? A little more searching turned up a Library of Congress article that might just provide the answer while also positing the most plausible theory I've ever read as to why, in America, there are sweet potatoes masquerading as yams. According to that article, the first sweet potatoes grown commercially were harder and more potato-like than what we usually see in stores. A softer, more tubular-shaped variety came along later, and, to tell them apart, plantation slaves, who came from Africa and were familiar with yams, began calling these softer sweet potatoes "yams" to distinguish them from the harder, rounder sweet potatoes. So... my guess is that the yams that Abraham Lincoln was served at his last meal were actually soft, tubular, American sweet potatoes, not real yams. And now you not only have me craving sweet potatoes, but now that I know what a real yam looks like and have an idea of where to find one, I have an urge to procure one so that I can attempt to recreate Mrs. Socach's yummy-looking preparation! Thank you for making this video -- I think we both learned something.

[@EATSHISTORY]

Thank you for your research! Flow are considered not common but known food in Europe and in fact it is a type oh chicken.Yams however are totally hard to get. Although I did come across the “yellow” sweet potato so you might be on to something 🧐All the best! Mrs S.

[@maxivisionvermont1333]

Great new channel

[@lawrencecalfee3769]

Keep the new concepts coming. I dig em.

[@EATSHISTORY]

More is coming!

[@So-CA_NV_AZ82]

Yum yummy

[@LTHanlon]

Yum! I'm coming to your home for dinner!

[@maxivisionvermont1333]

I think i was subscribers 71 cool new channel

[@EATSHISTORY]

You’re in a unique situation as one of the “original 100” - if the channel gets big you can Unsub to make a statement about how we sold out 😂. Thanks for your support ! - Ryan

[@joseroeder5492]

Great video. As someone from the Caribbean. Yam is generally boiled or fried as but not baked. Interesting that they cooked it.

[@EATSHISTORY]

Thanks for watching!

[@jeromewilliams1129]

That looked like cassava root instead of yam

[@Nderak]

802nd subscriber

[@jayofthenorth3364]

Yam is more elegant then sweet potatoes? what??? someone please help me

[@jayofthenorth3364]

i do love the way you showed the food being made by i’m assuming your girlfriend is will subscribe 😍

[@detroitredneckdetroitredne6674]

🤔🤔🤔

[@gregpendrey6711]

Yes it was quite interesting for me as well.😎

[@meteorfive6]

How dare you bring in Biden in comparison to Honest Abe ?!?

[@trikstari7687]

They're both equally corrupt. Lincoln was not the great man that history has misremembered him as. He was a scoundrel and a tyrant that conquered his own people just to create his own empire. He's the entire reason we have the insanely overpowered and corrupt federal government we have today.