If you look closely at Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address carved into the North wall of the Memorial, you’ll notice a slight typo to one of the letters.

  • Construction on the Lincoln Memorial began in 1914
  • WWI delayed construction, and the Memorial didn’t open to the public until 1922
  • Lincoln’s second inaugural addressed, issued on March 4, 1865, is engraved on the wall of the monument
  • The engraver accidentally chiseled out an ‘E’ where he meant to put an ‘F’
  • The bottom line of the ‘E’ was filled in so it was turned back into an ‘F’
  • If you look closely, you can just see the difference

lincoln memorial typo