The Boy Scout Pilgrimage to the Lincoln Memorial Shrine in Redlands, California, is an annual event steeped in a long tradition of community celebration and pride.  Begun in 1940 by Scouts in the neighboring community of Riverside, leaders seized upon an idea started in 1934 by Boy Scouts in Fort Wayne, Indiana, of making a symbolic pilgrimage to a statue of Abraham Lincoln to pay homage to the martyred 16^th President.  This was also coordinated with the celebration of Boy Scout week, the anniversary of the founding of the Scouting movement in the United States.
In order to understand why such an interesting event takes place in southern California (a state never visited by Abraham Lincoln), it is necessary to take a look at the community which hosts the Pilgrimage.

Redlands, California, is located about sixty-five miles east of Los Angeles.  Incorporated in 1888, for much of its history Redlands was a major Navel Orange growing district.  The climate of this then small town was ideal for the much sought-after fruit: a long growing season with very mild winters.  It was this climate that enticed wealthy people from the eastern part of the United States to spend their winters here, bringing with them their culture and interests.
               One of these easterners was Mr. Robert Watchorn.  Mr. Watchorn was born in Alfreton, Derbyshire, England in 1858, and at the age of 21 came to the United States in search of a new and better life.  After working in coal mines in Pennsylvania, becoming involved in union activities, and rising to the post of secretary of the United Mine Workers Union, he entered  the civil service and eventually became a commissioner of immigration at Ellis Island.  In 1909 Mr. Watchorn entered the oil business, and became assistant to the president and treasurer of the Union Oil Company.  Things went so well that in 1916 he founded and became president of the Watchorn Oil and Gas Company in Oklahoma City.  His rising fortune allowed him to look at other areas of the country for leisure and community for the cold eastern winters.  Redlands was his choice.

Mr. Watchorn had, through his son Emory Ewart, become interested in the life of Abraham Lincoln.  He wrote that he felt "so strongly that the influence of Abraham Lincoln is powerful enough to help the whole world, if it were widely enough realized and utilized, that I should esteem myself very highly honored and especially favored if I might be able to introduce this immortal personage…"  It was with this sentiment that in 1932 he built the Lincoln Memorial Shrine in his adopted city of Redlands.  Intended to honor Abraham Lincoln, it was also built as a memorial to his son, Emory, who had died as a result of wounds he suffered in the first World War.  The centerpiece of the collection of Lincoln memorabilia and books given by Mr. Watchorn to be the core of the Shrine's collection was a marble bust of Lincoln, created by noted sculptor George Grey Barnard. 

From its beginning in 1932, the ever-increasing exhibitions and collections about Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War of the Lincoln Memorial Shrine have attracted scholars, hobbyists, and tourists from all over the United States and the world.  In fact, it is the only museum, archives, and library dedicated to Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War west of Springfield, Illinois.  It is this unique circumstance that makes the Boy Scout Pilgrimage in Redlands possible. 
Scouting executives of the Riverside County Council, Riverside, California, were first to propose a Pilgrimage in the order of the Fort Wayne event.  Riverside, the county seat of Riverside County, is about 15 miles southeast of Redlands, which is in San Bernardino County.  Using the program from the 1939 Fort Wayne pilgrimage, the executives closely modeled their pilgrimage march along the same lines.  The following program emerged: A presentation of colors, followed by the Scout Oath, a welcome, an address appropriate to the occasion, and the presentation of a wreath at the Barnard bust of Lincoln inside the Shrine.  The Lincoln National Life Foundation, which sponsored pilgrimages around the country, provided awards to be given to each scout who participated in the pilgrimage.  When February 12, 1940, Lincoln's birthday, came, the event proved to be a success.
A parade began at the Chamber of Commerce building on Orange Street, proceeded south to Vine Street, then west to Fourth Street, and south to the Shrine.  Eight of the nine scouting districts in Riverside County, and 45 of 52 troops were represented. 104 Scouts and leaders attended.  Interestingly, two Boy Scouts came by bus from as far as Blythe, over 200 miles away. 

In most cases, the troops sent at least two Scouts.  Following the parade, the program was held in front of the Shrine, and featured the local Episcopal minister in an inspirational talk about the importance of Abraham Lincoln.  News of the pilgrimage could be found in local newspapers, and Scout executives took 16mm color film of the event to publicize it in future years.
In a letter on February 14, 1940, Genevieve Young, Curator of the Shrine, wrote to J.W. Doherty, the Riverside County scouting executive.  "Dr, Watchorn, and Dr. M.J. Sweeney, president of the Board [of the Lincoln Memorial Association], both have expressed the hope that the Pilgrimage which was so effectively inaugurated on Lincoln's birthday may become an annual event, and that it may be participated in by an increasingly larger group." 

The next year Mr. Watchorn's hope came true.  The highlight celebration for Boy Scout week in 1941 was the pilgrimage to the Lincoln Shrine, this time with an attendance of 800 Scouts, eight times larger than the year before! 
Bringing a more festive air to the event was the Redlands High School marching band, which led the parade from the Chamber of Commerce to Shrine.  The editor at the Redlands Daily Facts wrote, "Nothing could have pleased Lincoln more than to know that a powerful association of young Americans united in building for citizenship, in wholesome respect for the flag, pledged 'to do my duty to God and my country, to keep myself physically fit, mentally alert, and morally straight."
Organization was coordinated by both the Riverside County Council and the Redlands District Council, which rightly believed they should be involved with events in their own city.  Redlands area Scouts and executives have coordinated the event ever since. 
The years during World War II saw a decrease in the number of participants, averaging between one and two hundred.  This was mostly due to wartime conditions and restrictions on travel.  Gasoline rationing meant that people had to be very careful about the consumption of fuel.  These setbacks aside, the Pilgrimage remained a success. 

In 1942, Scouts camped out the night before the Pilgrimage in Sylvan Park, located on Colton Avenue near the University of Redlands.  Also, the length of the march to the Shrine was increased, beginning instead from near the intersection of Colton Avenue and Orange Street, about four blocks north of the Chamber of Commerce.
The Rev. William Pratt, minister of the Congregational Church in Redlands, was the main speaker at the program at the Shrine.  In tying Abraham Lincoln to the war, he said, "If we are to win this struggle we must follow the ideals of Abraham Lincoln, we must believe wholly in the principles in which he believed and which sustained him during the dark hours of the struggle between the states when he was president.  Any Scout who tries to live as that great American lived would be following the scout law in every respect.  And in preparing for the victory that is to come America can look well to the wise words of Lincoln."  This idea of promoting the strengths of Lincoln with Scouting and the Scout Law has been  a recurring theme in speeches through today.