• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • Events
  • History
  • Virtual Exhibitions
  • Educational Resources
  • Support
  • About

The Lincoln Memorial Shrine

A Lincoln Museum in Redlands, CA

Two hundred years after his birth, the life and legacy of Abraham Lincoln continues to fascinate and inspire. Born into poverty on the edge of an untamed frontier, his rise from obscurity to greatness has become a symbol of the universal hope that we can all improve our circumstances in life.

Philo F. Talcott

Philo Fuller Talcott (1835-1929) was a salesman in New York in the years leading up to the war. He married Caroline C. Hamilton in Connecticut 1858 and she died in childbirth in 1860. When the call for volunteers came from Connecticut Governor William Buckingham, Talcott enlisted as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 21st Connecticut Infantry. He served throughout the war and eventually attained the rank of Captain in October 1864. He mustered out with the regiment in June of 1865.

He remarried after the war and worked as a merchant, opening his first store Fuller & T in 1868. Talcott and his family moved to Chicago in the 1890s where he worked as a salesman. His second wife Louisa died in 1907 and Talcott moved to Rochester, New York where he lived with his daughter Caroline and her family.

In his later years, Talcott was known in Rochester as an affable veteran and would often be featured in local newspapers. He enjoyed relaying his war stories with reporters and often claiming that General Ulysses S. Grant was a third cousin on his mother’s side and speaking about the two occasions he saw Lincoln during the war. According to Talcott, he was present when the President visited Richmond, Virginia in April, 1865 and witnessed newly freed people falling at his feet. He also relayed a visit Lincoln made to the Fredericksburg battlefield where Talcott and another officer accompanied the President on a ride to see General Winfield Scott Hancock. He died in Rochester in October 1929.

Next: Edwin S. Wheeler

Back: George W. Shepard

Primary Sidebar

Mission Statement

As a museum and memorial, the Lincoln Memorial Shrine seeks to deepen the understanding of President Abraham Lincoln and the American Civil War and its impacts on generations of Americans through education, interaction, exhibition, and research.

Donate to the LMS

If you would like to give a donation to the Lincoln Memorial Shrine, please contact Nathan Gonzales, Curator at (909)798-7632 or heritage@akspl.org.

Footer

Contact Us

Research Center - (909) 798-7632

Museum - (909) 798-7636

125 West Vine Street Redlands, CA

 

Group Tours

Tours are temporarily unavailable.

Hours of Operation

Monday Closed
Tuesday Closed
Wednesday Closed
Thursday Closed
Friday Closed
Saturday Closed
Sunday Closed

Copyright © 2021 · Lincoln Memorial Shrine, All Rights Reserved

The Lincoln Memorial Shrine is a unit of the Special Collections Division of A.K. Smiley Public Library. The Watchorn Lincoln Memorial Association, a 501 (c)3 tax deductible organization oversees the WLMA endowment.