Misspelling at the Lincoln Memorial

Built from 1914 to 1922, the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., stands as the iconic result of the work of designer Henry Bacon and and sculptor Daniel Chester French, along with his assistant Evelyn Beatrice Longman.

When carving into stone—including Colorado Yule marble, from which the Lincoln Memorial is made—it becomes very difficult to correct any mistakes. Take, for example, the misspelled word in Lincoln’s second inaugural address inscription, located on the north wall of the monument’s interior. If you look closely, you can see with the word ‘FUTURE’ was misspelled (or mis-carved) as ‘EUTURE.’ It is unknown if the sculptors noticed the mistake immediately, or if it was pointed out after completion. Regardless, once a mistake is carved into marble, it cannot be corrected. At least not completely.

Over the years, attempts have been made to fill the bottom bar of the letter ‘E’ to make it look more like an ‘F.’ Discoloration in the filling makes it easier to spot the attempted cover-up.

So, why make a fuss about one misspelled word? Actually, very few do. In fact, millions of visitors have toured the Lincoln Memorial over the years without ever noticing the error. For those who have, they realize that mistakes happen and that one error does not detract from the beauty and majesty of the entire memorial. After all, no one, not even Abraham Lincoln, has ever been perfect.