Lincoln, Abraham
Entry updated 14 September 2026. Tagged: Theme, People.
(1809-1865) The sixteenth US president, who led the United States to victory in the Civil War and was assassinated in 1865. Universally admired since his death to the present day for his honesty, eloquence, and able leadership during the Civil War, he has naturally attracted the attention of sf writers. Perhaps the first reference to Lincoln in sf came in Jules Verne's Vingt mille lieues sous les mers (20 March 1869-20 June 1870 Magasin d'Éducation et de Récréation; 1870 2vols; rev 1871; full restored text 2022; cut trans Lewis Mercier as Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Seas 1872; ¶ trans Frederick Paul Walter as Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas 2001 ebook), wherein the ship dispatched to search for a reported sea Monster was called the Abraham Lincoln; and in the sequel 'île mystérieuse (1 December 1874-5 December 1875 Le Temps; 1874-1875 3vols; trans Agnes Kinloch Kingston as by W H G Kingston as The Mysterious Island 1874-1875 2vols; ¶ trans Sidney Kravitz as The Mysterious Island 2001), the Union soldiers name the unknown island they reach Lincoln Island. Documenting further references to Lincoln of this kind would be tedious; far more interesting are stories in which Lincoln, or someone resembling Lincoln, actually appears.
Some stories depict predictions of Lincoln's assassination: in an episode of One Step Beyond (1959-1961), "The Day the World Wept: The Lincoln Story" (1960), Lincoln is one of many who predicts his death; and in Connie Willis's Lincoln's Dreams (1987), Lincoln's dead son sends him dreams foretelling his death. In Gary L Blackwood's Second Sight (2005) a young woman has a premonition of Lincoln's assassination (see Precognition). In John Buchan's The Path of the King (coll of linked stories 1921) Lincoln's life was foretold several centuries in the past. Lincoln is also visited by his son's ghost in George Saunders's Lincoln in the Bardo (2017), and Lincoln's assassination is mentioned in Michael Uslan and Peter Snejbjerg's Batman: Detective # 27 (2003).
Works in which Lincoln appears after his death include Vachel Lindsay's poem "Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight" (21 September 1914 Independent), wherein Lincoln rises from the dead to lament the carnage of World War One, and the Twilight Zone episode "The Passers-By" (1959), about a Confederate soldier who mysteriously encounters various casualties of the Civil War and finally meets Lincoln. In Reuben Ship's play The Investigator (as radio play 30 May 1954 Canadian Broadcasting Company; 1956), Lincoln during his afterlife travels with other luminaries to Hell. In The Story of Mankind (1957), Lincoln appears during a heavenly tribunal as evidence for the human race. Lincoln is also resurrected as a Zombie along with other presidents in Brian Posehn, Gerry Duggan, and Tony Moore's comic Deadpool Vol.1: Dead Presidents (2013). In Scott McCloud's Comic book The New Adventures of Abraham Lincoln (1998), Lincoln returns to life in the present to confront Benedict Arnold, working with Aliens seeking to conquer the world. Lincoln's ghost appears in the animated series The Ghost and Molly McGee (2021-2024).
Lincoln is one person regularly visited by Time Travellers. The protagonist of Wilson Tucker's The Lincoln Hunters (1958) goes back in time to listen to a lost Lincoln speech. In an episode of The Time Tunnel (1966-1967), "The Death Trap" (1966), the time travellers visit the year 1861 and discover a plot to assassinate Lincoln. In an episode of Voyagers! (1982-1983), "The Day the Rebs Took Lincoln" (1982), the time travellers must rescue Lincoln from Confederate kidnappers during the Civil War. In Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989), the two teenagers retrieve Lincoln from the past along with other historical figures and bring them to the present to be part of their history presentation. Lincoln also appears in Brian Joines's and Bachan's comic book Bill & Ted Go To Hell (2016). In the comic book story "Gettysburg Distress!" (in February 2009 Presidents' Day Special Digital Comic #1) by Matt Fraction, Zeb Wells, Andy MacDonald and Todd Nauc, Spider-Man and Captain America go back in time to listen to Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. In Dan Gutman's The Lincoln Project (2016), four teenagers are sent back in time to take photographs of Lincoln during his Gettysburg Address. And in "The Assassination of President Lincoln" (2016), an episode of Timeless (2016-2018), Lincoln is assassinated by time travellers.
Time travellers also attempt to prevent his assassination. In an episode of the radio drama The Mysterious Traveler, "The Man Who Tried to Save Lincoln" (1950) (remade as an episode of the radio series Suspense [1942-1962]), a man mentally takes over the bodies of people in 1865 to achieve his goal. Another who tries to save Lincoln is Superboy (see Superman) in Jerry Siegel's and George Papp's "The Impossible Mission!" (December 1960 Superboy); he is thwarted by the evil Lex Luthor, leading Superboy to conclude that it is impossible to change history. In Malcolm Ross's The Man Who Lived Backward (1950), a man who lives backward (see Time in Reverse) cannot prevent Lincoln's assassination. Time travellers also try to prevent Lincoln's assassination in the Twilight Zone episode "Back There" (1961) and Fred Saberhagen's After the Fact (1988). In "Mitefall!" (2011), an episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold (2008-2011), Batman prevents Lincoln's assassination in a Parallel World.
Lincoln himself sometimes becomes a time traveller. A sketch on the comedy series Second City Television (1976-1984) shows Lincoln travelling back in time to shoot a young John Wilkes Booth. In the first issue of Fred Perry's comic series Time Lincoln (2010), Lincoln is saved from assassination by H G Wells's time machine and goes on to become a time-travelling crimefighter. Lincoln also temporarily travels through time to the year 1964 in Tony Wolk's Abraham Lincoln: A Novel Life (2004). In Bryan Thomas Schmidt's juvenile Abraham Lincoln, Dinosaur Hunter (2013), Lincoln and Davy Crockett travel back to prehistoric times and have to face Dinosaurs.
In some Alternate Histories, Lincoln is not assassinated, or survives an assassination attempt, without the help of time travellers, and he remains president, as in Milton Waldman's "If Booth Had Missed Lincoln" (in If It Had Happened Otherwise ed. J C Squire 1931), Arthur Goodman's play If Booth Had Missed: A Drama of the Reconstruction Period (1932), Oscar Lewis's The Lost Years: A Biographical Fantasy (1951), and Stephen L Carter's The Impeachment of Abraham Lincoln (2012). The full title of T J Turner's Lincoln's Bodyguard: In a Heroic Act of Bravery Saves Our Beloved President! John Wilkes Booth Killed in Act of Treason (2015) tells its story. In an unidentified author and artist's comic book story "Some Things Weren't Meant to Be Written" (in March 1951 This Magazine Is Haunted), a man discovers that a different person, not Booth, killed Lincoln, but Booth's ghost tells him to suppress this fact so that Booth will still be remembered. In Maureen McHugh's "The Lincoln Train" (April 1995 F&SF), Lincoln survives being hit by Booth's bullet but is left brain-dead. Lincoln also survives to continue being president in Cole Escola's play Oh, Mary! (2024).
In other alternate histories, Joseph Edgar Chamberlin's "If Abraham Lincoln's Father Had Moved Southward, not Northward," in his The Ifs of History (1907), speculates that Lincoln might have come to lead the Confederacy. In Robert Stapp's A More Perfect Union (1970), Lincoln abandons Fort Sumter, leading to a Confederate victory. Harry Turtledove's The Guns of the South (1992) has Lincoln accepting a Confederate victory in 1864, while his How Few Remain (1997) imagines Lincoln becoming a preacher. In Bill Fawcett's "Lincoln's Charge" (in Alternate Presidents ed. Mike Resnick 1992), Stephen Douglas defeats Lincoln in the 1860 election and Lincoln becomes a general in the Civil War. In C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America (2004), the South wins the Civil War and Lincoln is sent to live in Canada. Debra Doyle's Lincoln's Sword (2010) adds to actual Civil War history a Magic sword that may kill Lincoln. In Tracy Hickman's and Dan Willis's Lincoln's Wizard (2015), Lincoln is losing the Civil War because of an army of Confederate Zombies. (Zombies also participate in the Civil War in Abraham Lincoln vs. Zombies [2012].) In Roger Stern's and Eduardo Barreto's comic Superman: A Nation Divided (1999), an alternate Superman living during the Civil War, known as Atticus Kent, uses his Superpowers to prevent Lincoln's assassination. In Ben H Winters's Underground Airlines (2016), Lincoln is assassinated early in his administration, preventing the Civil War but allowing the South to become an independent country.
Lincoln is sometimes reimagined in strange ways. In Stanley Waterloo's A Son of the Ages: The Reincarnations and Adventures of Scar, the Link: A Story of Man from the Beginning (short version May 1914 Argosy; 1914), Lincoln is one of many descendants of a prehuman. Vincent McHugh's Caleb Catlum's America (1936) features Lincoln as one member of a family of Immortal people. In The Garbage Pail Kids Movie (1987), Lincoln is consigned to the State Home for the Ugly, and in Dorothy Skinkle's Star Giant (1969), an alien takes the place of Lincoln. Parke Godwin's The Snake Oil Wars, or Scheherazade Ginsberg Strikes Again (1989) shows a renamed Lincoln in the afterlife serving as a prosecutor in a trial. An episode of the animated educational series Histeria! (1998-2000), "The U.S. Civil War" (1998), Satirically portrays Lincoln as launching his own situation comedy. In Mike Mignola's comic The Amazing Screw-On Head (2002), Lincoln employs a Robot in order to track down a thief. In Robert Kirkman, Cory Walker, and Ryan Ottley's comic book series Invincible (2003-2018) (adapted as the animated series Invincible [2021- current]), the superhero the Immortal has had many prior identities, including Lincoln. Lincoln is enlisted to battle Vampires in Sean Grahame-Smith's Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2010), filmed in 2012, and The Last American Vampire (2015). In "Sons of Mars" (2012), an episode of the animated series Adventure Time (2010-2018), Lincoln is the king of Mars. In Michael P Spradlin's The Raven's Shadow (2025), Lincoln and others battle against Count Dracula in 1864. And in Stephen Lindsay and various artists's comic series Jesus Hates Zombies (2007-2009). Lincoln joins Jesus Christ and others in the future as they battle against zombies.
Other stories involving Lincoln include the Twilight Zone episode "The Bard" (1963), in which a writer magically summons several historical figures, including Lincoln, to help him write a television program about American history, and the Star Trek episode "The Savage Curtain" (1969), in which a simulation of Lincoln appears on the Enterprise and later joins Captain Kirk and other historical figures in an arranged battle against adversaries. Gerry Conway and Dick Ayers's comic book story "The Twilight of Treachery" (March 1979 Weird Western Tales) shows the western hero Scalphunter arm-wrestling Lincoln. In the card game Chrononauts (2000), players have the opportunity to alter historical events, including Lincoln's assassination. In the animated series Futurama (1999-2003; 2010-2013; 2023-current), people in the future keep the heads of various dead people alive, including Lincoln (see Brain in a Box). And Philip K Dick's We Can Build You (November 1969-January 1970 Amazing as "A. Lincoln, Simulacrum"; text restored 1972) is about the construction of a robot Lincoln – a a development anticipated by the Disneyland amusement park attraction Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, first seen at the 1964 New York World's Fair, which is arguably a work of sf in itself. Later, a robot Lincoln appeared alongside all American presidents in the Disney World attraction Hall of the Presidents, introduced in 1971 (see Theme Parks).
In Cary Bates and Irv Novick's comic book story "An Earth Divided!" (November 1971 The Flash) a future Android Lincoln is apparently killed by an android Booth, but the Flash restores him to life. In "Meltdown" (1991), an episode of Red Dwarf(1989-2000, 2009-2020), the crew encounters animate replicas of various famous people, including Elvis Presley and Lincoln. In the Videogame Bureau Thirteen (1995), a government agency opposing supernatural adversaries was originally established by Lincoln. In the Fantasy Bedazzled (2000), the main character makes a wish to briefly become Lincoln going to Ford's Theatre. A statue of Lincoln is brought to life in the South Park (1997-current) episode "Super Best Friends" (2001), and in Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009), the statue in the Lincoln Memorial speaks. Lincoln is also a character in the videogame Fight Club (2004). And the shocking conclusion of Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes (2001) comes when the astronauts return to Earth and encounter, inside what was the Lincoln Memorial, a statue of a seated ape instead of Lincoln.
Unlike other recurring Icon figures in sf such as the Beatles, John F Kennedy, and Elvis Presley, no one in the twentieth century has any memories of seeing Lincoln in person, and there are only a few photographs of him, so writers arguably enjoy more freedom to reimagine the Great Emancipator. But such is his sterling reputation that no writers have dared to imagine him as a fraud or a scoundrel – a situation that seems likely to endure. [GW]
Abraham Lincoln
born LaRue County, Kentucky: 12 February 1809
died Washington, District of Columbia: 15 April 1865
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