Born in Scott County, Kentucky, Ficklin attended the common schools.

[3] The judge in Coles County ruled for Ficklin's clients and against Lincoln, and the enslaved people were set free.

[5] Ficklin argued passionately that the federal government must develop the land, cultivating prairie even if such destroyed the native flowers and wild deer: Unless the government shall grant head rights ... prairies, with their gorgeous growth of flowers, their green carpeting, their lovely lawns and gentle slopes will for centuries continue to be the home of wild deer and wolf, their stillness will be undisturbed by the jocund song of the farmer, and their deep and fertile soil unbroken by the plowshare.

In the summer of 1864, Ficklin led a delegation to Washington to secure the release of 15 Coles County men arrested by military authorities for rioting.

[7] Although a Democrat in an area known for its Copperhead leanings, Ficklin eulogized Lincoln as a statesman and lamented his death.

This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress