‘Abraham Lincoln in Edinburgh’

We met up with my son in Princes Street Gardens (yes, now three of us - under the latest dispensations!) for what was promising to be a beautifully sunny - if rather chilly - afternoon walk. 

He had told me about a statue of Abraham Lincoln that he had come across a few months earlier (in the Old Calton Burial Ground) and I was intrigued. We decided to walk along there to have a look. 

This statue is a bit of a curiosity. It’s from the American Civil War. 

Depicting a freed slave giving thanks at his feet, Lincoln stands atop a memorial to 6 Scottish soldiers who died fighting on the Union side. 

The monument was erected in 1893, following representations by the soldiers’ relations, and is the only monument to the American Civil War outside the United States. At that time, it was the first statue to a US president outside the country and it remains the only statue of Lincoln in Scotland.

As you can see from the photo, the weather had suddenly begun to  change and our walk home was accompanied by flurries of driving sleet!