This is an I-Heart podcast.

This is Lee Habib, and this is our American stories, and we tell stories about everything

here on this show, from the arts to sports

and from business to history and everything in between, including your story. Send them to OurAmerican

Stories.com. They're some of our favorites. And this next story is brought to us by a listener, Mike

Chapman, who listens to us on 1040 WHO out of Des Moines, Iowa. Abraham Lincoln is one of the

greatest leaders in U.S. history, but prior to his being elected the 16th President

of the United States, he used his skills as a wrestler to win approval from the masses.

Mike Chapman has been writing about and researching wrestling

for many years. He is also the author of the sport of Lincoln. Here is Mike Chapman to share

this turning point story in Abraham Lincoln's life. Aside from my passion for wrestling,

I have long been intrigued by the history of U.S. presidents.

That really began to blossom when I was executive editor of the Daily Newspaper in Dixon, Illinois,

which is the hometown of Ronald Reagan.

I was the editor there from 1989 to 1998. During that 10-year period, I discovered that Abe Lincoln had actually served in the very same location that is Dixon today. Lincoln served there during the Black Hawk War of 1832. And that fact really inspired me to learn more about Lincoln as a young man,

which in turn led me to the little village of New Salem, Illinois.

It is located about 200 miles south of Dixon and about 20 miles northwest of Springfield, Illinois.

And what a wonderful place that is for any history buff.

Abraham Lincoln was born on February 6, 1809, and raised in Kentucky. But when he was seven,

the Lincoln family moved to Indiana. He grew into a strapping young man nearly six foot

four inches tall and weighing about 180 pounds. He first strolled in the New Salem in 1831

as a 22-year-old looking for a new start in life. And soon he became engaged in an event that was

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