Courthouse Pig - Taylorville, IL
Posted by: 
YoSam.
N 39° 32.944 W 089° 17.733
16S E 302759 N 4380226
The legendary pig of Lincoln's famous speech is at his feet in this statue at the site of the old courthouse.
Waymark Code: WM1BY8K
Location: Illinois, United States
Date Posted: 04/25/2025
Views: 0
County of Statue: Christian County
Location of Statue: Main Cross St. & S. Washington St., courthouse lawn, Taylorville
Statue Donated by: mr. and Mrs. Monte Siegrist and Family
Text on Base:
The Last Stop
Abraham Lincoln's
8th Judicial Circuit
1839-1853.
Story of the Pig:
"I had pleasant accommodations at Taylorville
in company with Mr. Lincoln
& Mr. Thompson," Circuit Judge.
David Davis once wrote from here. He found this town--the last county seat on his circuit route--to be "prettily laid out, & tastefully arranged with trees & shrubs." But pigs rummaged underneath the floor boards of the courthouse sometimes disrupted the Judge's courtroom. Once, it was so noisy that attorney Abraham Lincoln reportedly rose to his feet to demand a "writ of quietus" to abate the hog nuisance. Pigs seemed to be a theme for Lincoln here in Taylorville. In 1842 he represented James Masterson, whose herd of four hundred pigs escaped when a careless boy allowed the cows he was herding to break down a holding pen fence. Masterson lost seventy pigs worth a total of $350. Lincoln sued the negligent boy's father on behalf of Masterson. Lincoln lost. A jury (whose members probably had unpredictable children of their own) ruled that the boy's father was not liable for his son's negligence.