Temple of the Union

Temple of the Union is a small unit of escaped slaves that are trying to create a haven for other runaway slaves. Their leader, Hannibal Hamlin, has a dream of creating a place for slaves that they can protect from Slavers. This place turns out to be the Lincoln Memorial.

Although it is unclear how it arrived at this location, Abraham Lincoln's Head can initially be found here. Completing the quest Head of State can result in the head being moved to Lincoln Memorial. It is possible that the items were being repaired or stolen.

The name 'Temple of the Union' and associated imagery related to Abraham Lincoln are reminiscent of language used prior to, during, and after the American Civil War, of which the question of slavery was a major cause. In this case 'Union' refers to Lincoln's supporters and the 'Union' which fought to re-unite the United States as a single political entity.

The name "Temple of the Union" comes from the words above Lincoln's statue at the Lincoln memorial. The passage reads, "In this temple, as in the hearts of the people for whom he saved the Union, the memory of Abraham Lincoln is enshrined forever.” On the block Caleb is working on, the words "Temple of the Union" are visible, with the others faded out. Presumably, the block arrived at the building at the same time as the statue's head. (XBOX 360)

The Temple of the Union is located northwest of Canterbury Commons. You will be given the location on your map if you help out Mei Wong or slaves in the Scrapyard, or you can find a map on the corpse of a dead (probably failed runaway) slave near Paradise Falls. For the most profitable way to deal with the temple of the union, you should wait for all of the named NPC's to go to their rooms and fall asleep. one by one, enslave the Temple of the Union until only Hannibal remains. At this point, it is time to go get the Lincoln Memorial slavers and go let them kill Hannibal or the quest will never finish. You should also escort the slavers there as one giant radscorpion can lay waste to them all.

No real notable loot. A copy of a Pre-War Book can be found in Caleb's room on his bed. It is of course considered stealing and will result in a loss of Karma.

This is a possible location for a Random Encounter, but only if the slaves have been moved to The Lincoln Memorial or you helped the slavers kill the slaves.

Temple of the Union is one of the stop off points for the Caravan Merchants which is quite ironic due to the fact they stop off at Paradise Falls before hand. The route between Canterbury Commons and Temple of the Union is one of the most dangerous due to the Giant Radscorpions that inhabit it.

Notable Loot

 * Pre-War Book in Caleb's room (have to steal it)
 * Tales of a Junktown Jerky Vendor in the abandoned highway top raider outpost just south southwest of the Temple. It's hard to find. (Read about this bug below)
 * Grognak the Barbarian in the abandoned highway top raider outpost just south southwest of the Temple. It's hard to find. (Read about this bug below)
 * Pre-War Book in the same place with the others skill books. (Read about this bug below)

Bugs

 * Sometimes the Raider outpost on top the the highway doesn't load correctly, there will be nothing on any of the shelves or tables. If this happens, don't waste your time looking for the skill books and Pre-War Book, just leave and come back to the highway outpost sometime later in the game. (Try fast-traveling to Grisly Diner instead of Temple of the Union, then walking down to the highway, when I did this everything, including 3 raiders, loaded correctly)
 * Sometimes, a random encounter will spawn inside the Temple of the Union while Hannibal and the slaves are still occupying it. If the encounter includes hostile creatures, this can result in the deaths of the entire underground railroad, and the inability to complete any of the associated quests. Sam Warrick has been known to appear inside the Temple and kill everyone inside.

This could be done on purpose to keep the player from fast traveling away before they swear aleagane to the ex-slaves and effeciently traps the player.
 * Once you enter The Temple Of The Union, the game will treat it as an interior, therefore you cannot fast travel from it, despite the building being mostly open with the Wasteland clearly visible in many directions. Once you leave, the game will not register it as leaving a building and you will not be able to fast travel until you find another interior and enter/exit it. You can override this by opening the console ( ~ ) and typing in EnableFast 1
 * If you go away far enough (not exceptionally far) it should work to fast travel without doing anything irregular (Confirmed on PC, X360 and PS3).


 * While using multiple companions, picking the lock to the Temple of Union caused one companion (Clover) to begin attacking my other companions (Charon and Dogmeat). The Temple NPCs fled, but returned and were never hostile. The gate was relocked, but when I picked it again the same action occurred.


 * A similar problem to the bug above has also occured. Instead of companions attacking each other one may start to attack the player.(With only one attacking at a time).


 * The same bug happened to me, when I got locked out the first time arriving there. I attempted to pick the lock, and Charon became aggressive towards me and Dogmeat. When spoken to he said "Physical violence on your part invalidates our contract." though I never hit or shot him.

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 * When trying to enter Temple of the union for the first time, a guard up in the window will ask what your reason for coming is. After speaking to her she will offer to open the gate, she will run down the stairs as if she is opening the gate but the gate will remain closed. Therefore you are unable to enter. This is easily solved by reloading a previous save game.
 * I you progress too far in the main quest(spoiler warning!)when you try to lead the runaway slaves to the Lincoln Memorial you may find an Enclave force-field set up around project purity at the Jefferson Memorial. Hannibal and the other slaves will get stuck here walking back and forth across the bridge instead of going the easy and obvious way. This is close to the end of the journey so if this happens you will have wasted a lot of time walking them all across the wasteland for nothing.

Trivia
The inhabitants are named after members of Abraham Lincoln's Cabinet. Hannibal Hamiln was Vice President, Caleb Smith was Secretary of the Interior, William "Bill" Seward was Secretary of State, and Simon(e) Cameron was Secretary of War. The dog Four Score is named for the opening words from Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.