# 
 

LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2012 with funding from 
 
 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/herndonslifeofliOOhern 
 
HERNDON'S 
 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 THE HISTORY AND PERSONAL 
 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
 
 AS ORIGINALLY WRITTEN BY 
 
 WILLIAM H. HERNDON 
 
 AND 
 
 JESSE W. WEIK 
 
 WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND NOTES BY 
 
 PAUL M. ANGLE 
 
 ALBERT & CHARLES BONI 
 
 NEW YORK MCMXXX 
 
Copyright, 1930, 
 By ALBERT & CHARLES BONI 
 
73 >7 
 b3\?h L > 
 
 AUTHOR'S PREFACE 
 
 A QUARTER OF A CENTURY HAS WELL-NIGH ROLLED BY 
 
 since the tragic death of Abraham Lincoln. The prejudice 
 and bitterness with which he was assailed have disappeared 
 from the minds of men, and the world is now beginning 
 to view him as a great historical character. Those who 
 knew and walked with him are gradually passing away, 
 and ere long the last man who ever heard his voice or 
 grasped his hand will have gone from earth. With a view 
 to throwing a light on some attributes of Lincoln's char- 
 acter heretofore obscure, and thus contributing to the great 
 fund of history which goes down to posterity, these vol- 
 umes are given to the world. 
 
 If Mr. Lincoln is destined to fill that exalted station in 
 history or attain that high rank in the estimation of the 
 coming generations which has been predicted of him, it is 
 alike just to his memory and the proper legacy of man- 
 kind that the whole truth concerning him should be known. 
 If the story of his life is truthfully and courageously told 
 — nothing colored or suppressed; nothing false either 
 written or suggested — the reader will see and feel the 
 presence of the living man. He will, in fact, live with 
 him and be moved to think and act with him. If, on the 
 other hand, the story is colored or the facts in any degree 
 suppressed, the reader will be not only misled, but im- 
 posed upon as well. At last the truth will come, and no 
 man need hope to evade it. 
 
 "There is but one true history in the world," said one 
 of Lincoln's closest friends to whom I confided the project 
 of writing a history of his life several years ago, "and 
 that is the Bible. It is often said of the old characters 
 
VI AUTHOR S PREFACE 
 
 portrayed there that they were bad men. They are con- 
 trasted with other characters in history, and much to the 
 detriment of the old worthies. The reason is, that the 
 Biblical historian told the whole truth — the inner life. 
 The heart and secret acts are brought to light and faith- 
 fully photographed. In other histories virtues are per- 
 petuated and vices concealed. If the life of King David 
 had been written by an ordinary historian the affair of 
 Uriah would at most have been a quashed indictment with 
 a denial of all the substantial facts. You should not for- 
 get there is a skeleton in every house. The finest character 
 dug out thoroughly, photographed honestly, and judged 
 by that standard of morality or excellence which we exact 
 for other men is never perfect. Some men are cold, some 
 lewd, some dishonest, some cruel, and many a combi- 
 nation of all. The trail of the serpent is over them all! 
 Excellence consists, not in the absence of these attributes, 
 but in the degree in which they are redeemed by the virtues 
 and graces of life. Lincoln's character will, I am certain, 
 bear close scrutiny. I am not afraid of you in this direc- 
 tion. Don't let anything deter you from digging to the 
 bottom; yet don't forget that if Lincoln had some faults, 
 Washington had more — few men have less. In drawing 
 the portrait tell the world what the skeleton was with Lin- 
 coln. What gave him that peculiar melancholy? What 
 cancer had he inside ?" 
 
 Some persons will doubtless object to the narration of 
 certain facts which appear here for the first time, and 
 which they contend should have been consigned to the 
 tomb. Their pretense is that no good can come from such 
 ghastly exposures. To such over-sensitive souls, if any 
 such exist, my answer is that these facts are indispensable 
 to a full knowledge of Mr. Lincoln in all the walks of life. 
 In order properly to comprehend him and the stirring, 
 bloody times in which he lived, and in which he played 
 such an important part, we must have all the facts — we 
 must be prepared to take him as he was. 
 
 In determining Lincoln's title to greatness we must not 
 only keep in mind the times in which he lived, but we must, 
 
AUTHORS PREFACE Vll 
 
 to a certain extent, measure him with other men. Many 
 of our great men and our statesmen, it is true, have been 
 self-made, rising gradually through struggles to the top- 
 most round of the ladder ; but Lincoln rose from a lower 
 depth than any of them — from a stagnant, putrid pool, like 
 the gas which, set on fire by its own energy and self- 
 combustible nature, rises in jets, blazing, clear, and bright. 
 I should be remiss in my duty if I did not throw the light 
 on this part of the picture, so that the world may realize 
 what marvelous contrast one phase of his life presents to 
 another. 
 
 The purpose of these volumes is to narrate facts, avoid- 
 ing as much as possible any expression of opinion, and 
 leaving the reader to form his own conclusions. Use has 
 been made of the views and recollections of other per- 
 sons, but only those known to be truthful and trust- 
 worthy. A thread of the narrative of Lincoln's life runs 
 through the work, but an especial feature is an analysis of 
 the man and a portrayal of his attributes and characteristics. 
 The attempt to delineate his qualities, his nature and its 
 manifestations, may occasion frequent repetitions of fact, 
 but if truthfully done this can only augment the store of 
 matter from which posterity is to learn what manner of 
 man he was. 
 
 The object of this work is to deal with Mr. Lincoln 
 individually and domestically; as lawyer, as citizen, as 
 statesman. Especial attention is given to the history of his 
 youth and early manhood ; and while dwelling on this por- 
 tion of his life the liberty is taken to insert many things 
 that would be omitted or suppressed in other places, where 
 the cast-iron rules that govern magazine writing are 
 allowed to prevail. Thus much is stated in advance, so 
 that no one need be disappointed in the scope and extent 
 of the work. The endeavor is to keep Lincoln in sight all 
 the time ; to cling close to his side all the way through — 
 leaving to others the more comprehensive task of writing a 
 history of his times. I have no theory of his life to 
 establish or destroy. Mr. Lincoln was my warm, devoted 
 friend. I always loved him, and I revere his name to this 
 
Vlll AUTHOR S PREFACE 
 
 day. My purpose to tell the truth about him need occasion 
 no apprehension ; for I know that "God's naked truth," as 
 Carlyle puts it, can never injure the fame of Abraham 
 Lincoln. It will stand that or any other test, and at last 
 untarnished will reach the loftiest niche in American his- 
 tory. 
 
 My long personal association with Mr. Lincoln gave me 
 special facilities in the direction of obtaining materials for 
 these volumes. Such were our relations during all that 
 portion of his life when he was rising to distinction, that I 
 had only to exercise a moderate vigilance in order to gather 
 and preserve the real data of his personal career. Being 
 strongly drawn to the man, and believing in his destiny, I 
 was not unobservant or careless in this respect. It thus 
 happened that I became the personal depositary of the 
 larger part of the most valuable Lincolniana in existence. 
 Out of this store the major portion of the materials of the 
 following volumes has been drawn. I take this, my first 
 general opportunity, to return thanks to the scores of friends 
 in Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, and elsewhere for the infor- 
 mation they have so generously furnished and the favors 
 they have so kindly extended me. Their names are too 
 numerous for separate mention, but the recompense of 
 each one will be the consciousness of having contributed 
 a share towards a true history of the "first American." 
 
 Over twenty years ago I began this book ; but an active 
 life at the bar has caused me to postpone the work of 
 composition, until, now, being somewhat advanced in years, 
 I find myself unable to carry out the undertaking. Within 
 the past three years I have been assisted in the preparation 
 of the book by Mr. Jesse W. Weik, of Greencastle, Ind., 
 whose industry, patience, and literary zeal have not only 
 lessened my labors, but have secured for him the appro- 
 bation of Lincoln's friends and admirers. Mr. Weik has 
 by his personal investigation greatly enlarged our common 
 treasure of facts and information. He has for several 
 years been indefatigable in exploring the course of Lin- 
 coln's life. In no particular has he been satisfied with any- 
 thing taken at second hand. He has visited — as I also did 
 
AUTHOR S PREFACE IX 
 
 in 1865 — Lincoln's birthplace in Kentucky, his early homes 
 in Indiana and Illinois, and together, so to speak, he and 
 I have followed our hero continuously and attentively till 
 he left Springfield in 1861 to be inaugurated President. 
 We have retained the original MSS. in all cases, and they 
 have never been out of our hands. In relating facts there- 
 fore, we refer to them in most cases, rather than to the 
 statements of other biographers. 
 
 This brief preliminary statement is made so that pos- 
 terity, in so far as posterity may be interested in the sub- 
 ject, may know that the vital matter of this narrative has 
 been deduced directly from the consciousness, reminis- 
 cences, and collected data of 
 
 William H. Herndon. 
 
 Springfield, III., 
 
 November 1, 1888. 
 
DITOR'S NOTE 
 
 THE TEXT FOLLOWED HERE IS THAT OF THE ORIGINAL EDI- 
 
 tion of Herndon's Lincoln. In order to minimize foot- 
 notes, I have inserted my own corrections and additions 
 in the text wherever possible, enclosing them in brackets. 
 For the same reason I have worked the author's footnotes 
 into the text whenever they admitted of such treatment. 
 This procedure has made necessary the modification of 
 an occasional word or two, but otherwise the original text 
 remains unchanged. Unless otherwise marked, all foot- 
 notes in this edition are my own. 
 
 Herndon described his Life of Lincoln as "a limited 
 one — kind of subjective — inner life, with a mere thread 
 of history running along." At times I have thought it 
 advisable, in the interest of a better understanding of 
 Lincoln's character, to supplement this mere thread; but 
 for the most part the incorporation of additional material 
 has been governed by the author's original purpose. 
 
 I am under a heavy obligation to many friends. The 
 advice and encouragement of Worthington C. Ford, Direc- 
 tor of the European Mission, Library of Congress, have 
 been most valuable, and I have profited greatly from the 
 suggestions of Logan Hay and Jacob Thompson of Spring- 
 field, Oliver R. Barrett and Henry Horner of Chicago, 
 and Marjorie Brown Wright of Pasadena. I am indebted 
 to the Abraham Lincoln Association, the Illinois State 
 Historical Library, the Henry E. Huntington Library and 
 the Massachusetts Historical Society for many favors. 
 
 Paul M. Angle. 
 
EDITOR'S PREFACE 
 
 FEW BOOKS HAVE CAUSED AS MUCH DISCUSSION AS 
 
 Herndon's Lincoln. Although a series of lectures and 
 newspaper articles, as well as an extensive correspondence, 
 had familiarized many with the views of its author, the 
 appearance of the book was marked by an outburst of criti- 
 cism. By implication — and often directly — Herndon was 
 called an ingrate, a liar and a fool. Defenders replied 
 that he was a conscientious recorder of the truth. Sweep- 
 ing condemnation was opposed by sweeping approval. 
 
 The controversy continues today, although in less acri- 
 monious manner. To large numbers Herndon's mere state- 
 ment is ample authority ; to others it is only a reason for 
 suspicion. Few have seemed to realize that he might not 
 be invariably right nor invariably wrong, and that a knowl- 
 edge of his own life story would, in all probability, enable 
 one to distinguish between the true and the doubtful in his 
 book. Herndon saw Lincoln, as it were, through the glass 
 of his own personality. An examination of that glass — 
 that personality — with reference to its imperfections and 
 blind spots as well as its excellencies, is indispensable. 
 Only thus can the degree of fidelity to truth in Herndon's 
 Lincoln be determined. 
 
 II 
 
 In the spring of 1821 Archer G. Herndon brought his 
 small family to Sangamon County, settling five miles north- 
 east of the infant village of Springfield. For five years 
 he farmed, and then, when its selection as county seat 
 seemed to assure the town a future, he decided to make it his 
 
XIV EDITORS PREFACE 
 
 home. There he erected the "Indian Queen," Springfield's 
 first tavern, and dispensed a generous hospitality which 
 travelers remembered long after the crude accommodations 
 were forgotten. Archer G. Herndon was, in fact, a man 
 to be noticed. Intensely loyal in his friendships, violent in 
 his hates, not too circumspect in manner or morals, he 
 soon became one of the prominent figures of the frontier 
 town. An ardent Democrat in politics, he represented San- 
 gamon County in the legislature, and later became Receiver 
 of Public Moneys at the Springfield Land Office. His 
 business ventures — the "Indian Queen," storekeeping and 
 stock-breeding — earned him prosperity beyond the average. 
 
 While the elder Herndon was thus establishing himself 
 his oldest son, William Henry, born in Green County, 
 Kentucky, December 28, 1818, was receiving an education 
 better than that which most boys in the town enjoyed. 
 Public schools, of course, did not exist, but young Herndon 
 attended several private schools of good quality; so that, 
 by 1837, he was ready to enter Illinois College in the 
 nearby town of Jacksonville. 
 
 His college career, however, was destined to be short. 
 Founded and administered by New Englanders, Illinois 
 College was a center of abolition sentiment. When, during 
 Herndon's first year, the anti-slavery activities of Elijah 
 P. Lovejoy of Alton resulted in his death, faculty and 
 students joined in bitter denunciation of the outrage. Sus- 
 pecting his son's sympathy with the attitude which prevailed 
 at the college, the elder Herndon, himself friendly to the 
 institution of slavery, and unwilling to have any share in 
 the education of "a damned Abolitionist pup," ordered him 
 to withdraw and return to Springfield. 
 
 The episode had two important consequences. In the 
 first place, William H. Herndon was from that time thence 
 an abolitionist. Writing later of his withdrawal from 
 college he commented, "But it was too late. My soul had 
 absorbed too much of what my father believed was rank 
 poison." The Lovejoy murder filled him with "despera- 
 tion." Though he acted with the Whig party until 1853, 
 
EDITOR S PREFACE XV 
 
 after 1837 the abolition of slavery was his primary political 
 objective. 
 
 In the second place, his father's action threw him for 
 the first time into close contact with Lincoln. Father and 
 son had too many similar qualities of temperament for 
 the relation between them to be continually amicable. Both 
 were intense in their likes and dislikes, both impetuous, 
 and both — at times — loved liquor too well. The Love joy 
 episode caused a definite break between them. Young 
 Herndon left home. Before entering college he had 
 clerked in the store of Joshua F. Speed, and now he 
 returned to that occupation. He made his home in a room 
 above the store, along with Speed, Charles R. Hurst and 
 Lincoln. 
 
 This was not, however, his first contact with his future 
 partner. That had occurred five years earlier, when 
 Springfield and the neighboring towns were thrilled by the 
 sight of the first steamboat to ascend the Sangamon River, 
 the Talisman. Lincoln and several others, armed with 
 long-handled axes, had gone down the river to meet the 
 boat at Beardstown and clear the stream of overhanging 
 boughs. At New Salem they were joined by a number of 
 curious, excited boys on horseback who followed the craft 
 along the river bank. Among them was Herndon. "I 
 remember the occasion well, for two reasons," he wrote. 
 "It was my first sight of a steamboat, and also the first 
 time I ever saw Mr. Lincoln — although I never became 
 acquainted with him till his second race for the Legislature 
 in 1834." 
 
 Herndon had relatives at New Salem, and consequently 
 saw Lincoln frequently. It was not until the latter's 
 removal to Springfield, however, that any degree of inti- 
 macy developed between the two men. "There was some- 
 thing in his tall and angular frame, his ill-fitting garments, 
 honest face, and lively humor that imprinted his indi- 
 viduality on my affection and regard," said Herndon of 
 Lincoln. In truth, the young lawyer and the clerk saw 
 much of each other. In addition to sharing the same room, 
 
XVI EDITOR S PREFACE 
 
 they both belonged to a group which frequently met to en- 
 tertain each other with original compositions, more often 
 than not bordering on the salacious. They were also mem- 
 bers of the Young Men's Lyceum, a more pretentious 
 organization whose purpose was the edification of the 
 audience as well as the amusement of the participants. 
 
 Herndon continued to clerk for Speed until 1842, when 
 he entered the office of Logan and Lincoln as a student. 
 Upon the dissolution of that firm in the autumn of 1844 
 Lincoln invited him to become his own partner, in spite 
 of the fact that he had not yet received a license to practice. 
 Thus was formed a legal association which continued 
 actively for sixteen years, and lasted nominally until 
 Lincoln's death. 
 
 More than one author has written contemptuously of 
 Herndon as a lawyer, implying that he was almost dead 
 weight to his partner. The facts do not warrant this con- 
 clusion. In the office of the Clerk of the Supreme Court of 
 Illinois are preserved the journals of the court for the 
 years of the Lincoln-Herndon partnership. These jour- 
 nals, carefully kept, generally give the names of the attor- 
 neys who made the arguments in each case before the 
 court, and from them one learns that Herndon bore a 
 full share of the firm's important work. The two men 
 seem to have divided the labor of the practice between 
 them. During the six months when Lincoln was on the 
 circuit, Herndon remained in Springfield, carrying on the 
 routine of the office, trying cases in the justices' courts, 
 and preparing for the next term of the circuit court. When 
 the circuit court was in session, the two partners usually 
 tried cases separately. A similar division held in their 
 work before the Supreme Court, while Lincoln handled 
 the bulk of the litigation in the United States Court 
 himself, frequently attending sessions in Chicago as well 
 as Springfield. 
 
 Charles S. Zane, who practiced with Herndon after 
 Lincoln's inauguration, and who frequented their office 
 for several years prior to that time, described the two men 
 as practicing lawyers : "In their office and elsewhere the 
 
EDITOR S PREFACE XV11 
 
 partners always treated each other kindly and with great 
 respect. Mr. Lincoln usually called his partner Billy and 
 Mr. Herndon always addressed his partner as Mr. Lincoln. 
 Mr. Herndon as a rule considered propositions and ques- 
 tions in the abstract, while Mr. Lincoln considered them 
 more in the concrete. ... As a rule they both did not 
 engage in the trial of the same case." Herndon, continued 
 Zane, "did not spend much time in the preparation of his 
 cases ; in that respect he was like Stephen T. Logan, Mr. 
 Lincoln's former partner ; he was wonderfully ready. Mr. 
 Lincoln was more methodical and systematic. Mr. Hern- 
 don thought he was too careful in presenting his arguments 
 to the court, that he sometimes spent too much time in 
 drawing inferences in support of his propositions and in 
 reasoning out his positions." 1 
 
 In spite of no mean capacity as a lawyer, Herndon 
 never liked his profession. Occasionally his dislike boiled 
 up in words. "I am in our Supreme Court hearing dis- 
 cussed the difference between 'tweedledee and tweedle- 
 dum'," he wrote Theodore Parker, " — a fine spun point 
 over an absurdity woven out by some priest 1200 years 
 gone by now. . . . I hate the law: it cramps me ; it seems to 
 me priestly and barbaric. I am above the suspicion of not 
 knowing somewhat of the history, spirit, and principles of 
 the law, and my feelings do not come of disappointment. I 
 say I hate the law." 
 
 Small wonder that, with Lincoln's steadying influence 
 removed, his attention to his practice should become casual 
 and finally cease. Not long before his death he made a 
 final attempt at practice. For several months he applied 
 himself assiduously. Gradually his interest slackened. One 
 day his partner noticed that the book in his hands was 
 receiving grudging, perfunctory attention. Suddenly it 
 was slammed shut. "Damn the law !" he exploded. With 
 those words the legal career of William H. Herndon ended. 
 
 1 Quoted in Lincoln and Herndon, by Joseph Fort Newton, 
 pp. 252-253. Those who are familiar with this excellent book — and 
 they are far too few — will recognize the extent of my indebtedness 
 to it. 
 
XV111 EDITOR S PREFACE 
 
 The Lincoln-Herndon partnership, however, was politi- 
 cal as well as legal. Curious alliance it was, too, with the 
 junior member serving in all sorts of capacities. When 
 Lincoln was in Congress in 1848 and 1849 it was Herndon 
 who kept him informed as to the state of opinion in his 
 own district — who warned him time and again that his 
 opposition to the Mexican War was not only costing him 
 his chance of reelection, but making certain the defeat of 
 whoever should be the Whig candidate. Yet when Lin- 
 coln, reconciled to his fate and deep in the presidential 
 campaign, took in hand the building of a Taylor organi- 
 zation in his district, it was Herndon whom he summoned 
 for the task. "Form a 'Rough and Ready Club,' " he 
 wrote, "and have regular meetings and speeches . . . 
 gather up all the shrewd, wild boys about town, whether 
 just of age or a little under age. . . . Let every one play 
 the part he can play best — some speak, some sing, and 
 all 'holler.' " The Illinois Journal soon announced the 
 formation of a Springfield Taylor Club, and called on 
 every precinct in the county to take similar action. First 
 among the speakers it offered to provide stood William H. 
 Herndon. 
 
 Between 1849 and 1854 Herndon took no more active 
 part in national politics than Lincoln. The repeal of the 
 Missouri Compromise, however, aroused both men. While 
 the senior partner went no further than to oppose the 
 spread of slavery, Herndon joined Love joy and Codding 
 in radical Republicanism. His activities are best de- 
 scribed in his own words : 2 "Firstly : I collected some two 
 or three hundred dollars and sent this to the Republican 
 association and other places; and purchased documents, 
 speeches, books, etc., and scattered them among our people. 
 I did this alone. Secondly: I commenced early in 1854 
 in our county and spoke on every stump and in every 
 church and schoolhouse therein, and thus carried our 
 county by a larger majority than ever before. ,, Yet when 
 his radical associates laid a trap to commit Lincoln to their 
 
 2 Herndon to Theodore Parker, December 27, 1856. In New- 
 ton, Lincoln and Herndon, pp. 101-102. 
 
EDITOR S PREFACE XIX 
 
 cause, it was Herndon who warned him and who saved him 
 from a political pitfall. 3 
 
 In 1856 Herndon played a part of some prominence 
 in the formation of the Republican party in Illinois. He 
 attended the editors' convention at Decatur on February 
 22, and was elected a member of the State Central Com- 
 mittee. In that capacity he issued the call for a Sanga- 
 mon County convention to select delegates to the state 
 convention at Bloomington. It was then that Lincoln com- 
 mitted himself to the new party. In the ensuing cam- 
 paign both men did their utmost for the election of 
 Fremont, but Lincoln's activities have largely eclipsed 
 those of his partner. "I commenced early in March, 1856," 
 Herndon wrote, "and spoke upon an average of twice a 
 week in almost every part of our wide-extended State — ■ 
 spoke to tens and to ten thousand at once. ... I turned 
 my office into a kind of war-office — took the young, active, 
 vigorous honest men there and talked to them — got them 
 to take an interest that they would not otherwise have done 
 in favor of human liberty — human rights. ... I did 
 some good even in this department — the Law — of frigid 
 conservatism." * 
 
 One result of Herndon's activities in 1856 was an in- 
 cipient movement to nominate him for governor. During 
 the spring of that year he spoke with particular effective- 
 ness at Atlanta in Logan County. A few days later the 
 Illinois Journal printed a letter proposing him for gov- 
 ernor. After noting that both Yates and Bissell were be- 
 ing mentioned for the place, the correspondent continued, 
 "But there is another name which bears with it a prestige 
 of greater force — a true, firm and abiding statesman ; one 
 in whom the highest trust might be committed without 
 fear of principles being sacrificed, or interest peddled off 
 — a man that spurns to lick the hands of the political 
 tricksters for the emoluments of office ... a man that 
 will in every requirement be a full and thorough exponent 
 
 3 Please see infra, pp. 299-300. 
 
 4 To Theodore Parker, December 27, 1856. Newton, op. cit., 
 p. 102. 
 
XX EDITORS PREFACE 
 
 of the Anti-Nebraska party, in the Commonwealth — it is 
 Wm. H. Herndon, Esq. of Springfield." 
 
 There is little possibility that the movement would have 
 been of any consequence had Herndon been inclined to 
 foster it — which he was not — yet it is significant that the 
 Journal, with which his relations were temporarily strained, 
 made this letter the occasion for referring to him as "an 
 earnest and eloquent defender of the constitutional rights 
 of the north and an honest man ;" while the Illinois State 
 Register, frequently abusive, admitted that the Republi- 
 cans "might go further and fare worse." 
 
 It was in Lincoln's contest with Douglas for the sen- 
 atorship that Herndon rendered most effective service. 
 Lincoln could address thousands in spectacular meetings, 
 yet Herndon knew, as every politician knows, that elec- 
 tions were not to be carried in this way. "I am all the time 
 at the schoolhouses and the village churches," he wrote in 
 the midst of the campaign, "where good can be done and 
 where the 'big bugs' do not go. There are no great crowds 
 at these cross-roads places, yet they are really the places 
 where good can be done." With the young men — the 
 "wild boys about town" — he was particularly effective. 
 "I am the young man's friend, and am not without influ- 
 ence among them," he confessed truly. 
 
 But there were other ways in which Herndon was even 
 more useful. A hint of the nature of these services is 
 contained in a letter to Lyman Trumbull, written not long 
 before the campaign commenced. Douglas had broken 
 irrevocably with Buchanan, and in punishment the 'Dan- 
 ites,' as the administration forces were called, were putting 
 tickets in the field in an effort to split Douglas' followers 
 and cause his defeat. So perfectly was this playing into 
 Republican hands that there were many rumors of a con- 
 tract between the Republicans and the Buchanan faction. 
 Trumbull had inquired of Herndon whether such an agree- 
 ment existed. "I know of no such contract finished, com- 
 menced or in embryo," he answered. "I think I would 
 know it . . . probably sooner and better than Lincoln, 
 for you know he does not know the details of how we 
 
EDITOR S PREFACE XXI 
 
 get along. I do, but he does not.. That kind of thing does 
 not suit his tastes, nor does it suit me, yet I am compelled 
 to do it — do it because I cannot get rid of it." 
 
 Two years later, in the presidential campaign, Herndon 
 worked tirelessly, and again in 1864 he did strenuous serv- 
 ice. After Lincoln's death his interest in politics waned, 
 though he joined the radical Republicans in denouncing 
 the course of Andrew Johnson, basing his case, curiously 
 enough, on what he conceived to be Johnson's divergence 
 from the policy Lincoln would have pursued ! 5 Late in 
 life his interest flared, centering, however, on free trade 
 rather than on the humanitarian issues which had so com- 
 pletely obsessed him in his youth. 
 
 Close as was their association in the practical workings 
 of politics, there was a wide gulf between the political 
 beliefs of Lincoln and Herndon. Lincoln was the con- 
 servative, hating slavery, to be sure, but unwilling to do 
 more than advocate its confinement to the territory it 
 already occupied. Herndon was the radical, seeking the 
 destruction of the institution wherever located. "I hope 
 to see the day when I can make slavery feel my influence. 
 That shall be the one object of my life," he declared in 
 1856. "It and myself are enemies. I am feeble: it is 
 strong, yet I am right and it is wrong: nature — eternal 
 truth — is with me : error is with it. Thus we stand." 
 
 It was natural that a man of this conviction should seek 
 and make contacts with others of like opinion. This 
 Herndon did. From the early fifties he was in corres- 
 pondence with many leading abolitionists — William Lloyd 
 Garrison, Wendell Phillips, Joshua R. Giddings and oth- 
 ers. Theodore Parker, however, occupied the first place 
 in his estimation. When he first became acquainted with 
 the Boston preacher's writings he expressed his admira- 
 tion in characteristic fashion: "May I say you are my 
 ideal — strong, direct, energetic, charitable," he wrote. His 
 letter was the beginning of a correspondence which lasted 
 until Parker's death, and which reveals, more clearly than 
 could be done by any pre-conceived pen-picture, the curi- 
 
 B Chicago Tribune, October 3, 1866. 
 
XX11 EDITOR S PREFACE 
 
 ous, effusive, attractive character of William H. Hern- 
 don. 6 
 
 Through Herndon's letters to Parker one learns his 
 estimate of those intellectual leaders with whom he had 
 no personal acquaintance. Some of them appeared in 
 Springfield — the golden age of the lecture platform was 
 just beginning— and thus furnished the incentive for char- 
 acter sketches which throw more light on the personality 
 of the writer than the subject. With others Herndon's 
 only contact was through their published writings. 
 
 Henry Ward Beecher, when he spoke in Springfield 
 in the autumn of 1855, was the object of particular en- 
 thusiasm on Herndon's part. "He will do good," he wrote 
 Parker. "He looks a man and I suppose his Heaven- 
 warrant does not deceive." When Parker seconded his 
 enthusiasm, he became lyrical. "He is a new rose, fresh 
 from the garden of the almighty forces," he wrote a second 
 time of Beecher. "This age was fortunate in having so 
 beautiful a present. He is a man — 'a fresh minister'." 
 
 Hardly less enthusiastic was Herndon's approval of 
 Charles Sumner, though his knowledge of the Massachu- 
 setts statesman was confined entirely to his published 
 writings. "I am glad to see Sumner publishing the third 
 volume of speeches," he wrote. "They are eloquent, 
 chaste, classic. I admire Mr. Sumner very much : he is a 
 man all over, inward and outward, from head to foot." 
 
 It took personal contact, however, to overcome Hern- 
 don's unfavorable impression of Garrison. "I had imag- 
 ined him a shriveled, cold, selfish, haughty man," he con- 
 fessed, "one who was weak and fanatically blind to the 
 charities and equities of life, at once whining and insult- 
 ing, mean and miserable; but I was pleasantly disap- 
 pointed. I found him warm, generous, approachable, com- 
 municative: he has some mirth, some wit, and a deep 
 abiding faith in coming universal charity. I was better 
 and more warmly received by him than by any man in 
 Boston." 
 
 For Horace Greeley Herndon had nothing but con- 
 
 6 All this correspondence is to be found in Newton, op. cit. 
 
EDITOR S PREFACE XX111 
 
 tempt — the bitter, biting contempt of political disagree- 
 ment. Greeley had made no secret of his wish that the 
 Illinois Republicans should adopt Stephen A. Douglas in 
 1858, and to the partner of Lincoln this attitude was nearly 
 tantamount to moral turpitude. Herndon's letters to 
 Parker abound in harsh expressions, frequently echoed 
 by the recipient. Yet, when the campaign was finished 
 and animosities had subsided, he had the fairness to admit 
 that the New York editor, though perhaps unfit for high 
 leadership, was at least an honest man, and that he still 
 like him "somewhat. " 
 
 It was but natural that Herndon, in close contact with 
 the leading reformers of the day, should take an active 
 part in temperance agitation. In this case temperament 
 was abetted by self-interest, for love of liquor was a fail- 
 ing which led him into occasional excesses. In the "Maine 
 Law" campaign of 1855 he was a leading spirit, writing 
 numerous articles in support of the law and frequently ad- 
 vocating its passage from the stump. Contrary to his ex- 
 pectation, it was voted down. 
 
 Herndon, however, had already had some experience in 
 the business of making men temperate by legislation. As 
 mayor of Springfield from the spring of 1854 until the 
 spring of 1855, it was his duty to enforce a recent ordi- 
 nance prohibiting the sale of whiskey within the city limits. 
 In his valedictory address he described his methods. "I 
 went personally to some, if not most of the groceries, in 
 our city, with the instructions of the people in my hands, 
 fresh from the ballot box, and told them they must close 
 their doors. I told them kindly, I intended to see the 
 ordinances of the city executed — particularly the ordinance 
 against the sale of intoxicating liquors, which you and I 
 had been specially ordered to enforce and obey, by the 
 vote of the people." In the light of the modern raiding 
 party a curious, but refreshingly honest, procedure ! 
 
 Yet neither sincere conviction nor official position could 
 overcome the temptation which became stronger with the 
 years. Though never an habitual drinker, Herndon's pe- 
 riods of indulgence became more frequent, and threatened 
 
XXIV EDITOR S PREFACE 
 
 to impair his success as a lawyer. His conduct was natur- 
 ally an embarrassment to his partner, though Lincoln 
 never alluded to it except once. That was on the occasion 
 of his last visit to the law office, when, after an exchange 
 of reminiscences, he suddenly asked the younger man how 
 often he had been drunk. Herndon told him accurately 
 as possible. Instead of a lecture, Lincoln simply informed 
 him how other lawyers had tried to displace him in the 
 firm, and then turned the conversation to other subjects. 
 
 There has been in circulation for many years a per- 
 sistent rumor to the effect that after his partnership with 
 Lincoln, Herndon became a drug addict. The story is 
 utterly baseless, though it is unfortunately true that a 
 member of his family became an habitual user of narcotics. 7 
 Equally false is the rumor that Herndon drank himself 
 to death. As a matter of fact, his periods of indulgence 
 were far less frequent during the last years of his life 
 than while he was Lincoln's partner. 
 
 Anti-slavery agitation and temperance reform by no 
 means monopolized Herndon's interest. He was the 
 possessor of an excellent library in which the works of 
 Kant, Comte, Hegel, Louis Blanc, Montaigne, Francis 
 Bacon and others of similar character held prominent 
 places. He was interested in scientific discoveries, and 
 eagerly read the writings of Darwin and Lyell as they ap- 
 peared. After Parker, his favorite American author was 
 Emerson, whose writings, in his eyes, were synonomous 
 with truth. Never content to be a passive recipient, but 
 always forced by his own nature to propagandist!!, he fre- 
 quently distributed copies of Parker's sermons and Emer- 
 son's essays at his own expense rather than have acquaint- 
 ances remain ignorant of them. 
 
 Omnivorous reader though he was, Herndon was not 
 oblivious to the lure of the natural. Tiring of the law, he 
 frequently sought to regain his customary zest for life in a 
 
 7 Though I have this statement from what I believe to be un- 
 impeachable authority, I withhold the name of my informant in 
 order to save certain members of Mr. Herndon's family from 
 needless embarrassment. 
 
EDITOR S PREFACE XXV 
 
 long ramble through the woods and open fields. Often he 
 returned from such a walk to write a friend an account 
 of what he had seen. The following extract from one of 
 his letters to Parker is a good example of his power of 
 observation and description : "I move down to a small lake, 
 one end of which runs into a creek. The lake is in the 
 shape of a horseshoe, and near the creek fish have their 
 sport. There they play and spawn upon the ripple. I 
 am looking at a large bass, playing backwards and for- 
 wards, breathing leisurely, as if he were in air. The water 
 is pure and clean. The fish is about two feet long, fat and 
 nimble. Wave but a hand and he is off into the deep. He 
 sees his shadow and supposes it is another fish, for he 
 seems to woo it, twists his tail and wants to hug his 
 shadow companion ; yet it slips away from him." 
 
 Herndon's love of nature was almost religious in its 
 intensity. Holding no belief in any Christian creed, he 
 nevertheless possessed a deep reverence for a God who 
 manifested Himself in the growing things of the earth and 
 its people. "I love nature better than most men," he 
 wrote. "My first love is God, then man, then nature." 
 At another time he expanded his creed: "My ideas of 
 Nature and God have deepened and broadened, have be- 
 come rich and warm in me, and I feel a fresh, vigorous 
 confidence in the purity of Nature, and the eternal love 
 of God for all his creatures, multiform and multitudi- 
 nous." 
 
 Strange it is that the man who wrote these words should 
 have thought of himself as an atheist, and that posterity 
 should have acceped his description. Yet Herndon's life 
 and character offer even stranger contradictions. The son 
 of a pro-slavery Democrat, he became a Republican aboli- 
 tionist. An able lawyer, he hated the law. Correspondent 
 of Parker and Garrison, and possessor of one of the finest 
 libraries in the West, he was at the same time the trusted 
 friend and leader of the wild boys about town. Temper- 
 ance reformer, his greatest personal vice was liquor. Ad- 
 miring Lincoln almost to the point of idolatry, he has been 
 continuously maligned as his chief traducer. Even his 
 
XXVI EDITOR S PREFACE 
 
 love of truth, which he elevated above all things, has fur- 
 nished an opportunity of attack for those who hold that 
 in biography "good taste" should be the ultimate criterion. 
 
 in 
 
 For a number of years after Lincoln's death Herndon 
 maintained a law office in Springfield, first with Charles 
 S. Zane and later with Alfred Orendorff, but he spent most 
 of his time at his farm a few miles north of the city. His 
 real interest, however, was the accumulation of data for 
 the life of Lincoln which he hoped someday to write. His 
 quest for material commenced hardly a month after his 
 partner's death, and continued until the end of his own life. 
 
 In the early summer of 1865 Herndon visited the Ken- 
 tucky, Indiana and Illinois neighborhoods in which Lin- 
 coln had lived. There he interviewed every person who 
 had any recollection of his partner or his family, and made 
 careful notes of what they told him. Returning to Spring- 
 field, he followed up his inquiries by letter, often continu- 
 ing the correspondence for years. When opportunity 
 offered, he took statements from Lincoln's friends of New 
 Salem days, and from his associates at the bar. Those 
 whom he could not see in person he interrogated by mail. 
 Had it not been for his tireless industry many incidents 
 of Lincoln's life, now familiar to every schoolchild, would 
 have been irrevocably lost. 
 
 Herndon's method of obtaining information and the 
 spirit which governed him in his investigations are well 
 illustrated by the following letter to Squire Hall. Hall 
 had married Matilda Johnston, Lincoln's step sister, and 
 was living with the other members of the family in Coles 
 County. 
 
 Springfield, Ills., January 22d, 1866. 
 Friend Hall: 
 
 Will you have the kindness to copy Mr. Lincoln's bond to 
 Johnson or your father, which I saw when I was down to see 
 you. Copy every word, figure, and name carefully from top 
 
EDITOR S PREFACE XXV11 
 
 to bottom, and send to me, if you please. Don't fail. I want 
 it to defend Lincoln's memory. 
 
 Please write to me at any time you may think of anything 
 that is good or bad of Mr. Lincoln, truthfully just as it hap- 
 pened and took place. Were any of you boys applicants for 
 any office made to Mr. Lincoln while he was President? 
 
 Hall — What is your honest opinion — Come honest opinion 
 — in reference to Mr. Lincoln's love for his kin and relations 
 generally. Please — friend — accommodate me 
 
 Your Friend, 
 
 W. H. Herndon. 8 
 
 Though gathered primarily for his own use, Herndon 
 was anything but selfish with the fruits of his labor. The 
 authors of several biographies — notably Holland, Barrett, 
 Lamon and Arnold — were heavily indebted to him, and the 
 number of magazine writers and journalists who drew upon 
 him for information is beyond computation. One of the 
 latter, George Alfred Townsend, who interviewed him 
 early in 1867, paid his debt by drawing an unforgettable 
 picture of his informant. 
 
 "How young Herndon might have looked twenty-five 
 years ago/' wrote Townsend in the New York Tribune, 
 "We can scarcely infer from the safifron-faced, blue-black 
 haired man before us, bearded bushily at the throat, dis- 
 posed to shut one eye for accuracy in conversation, his 
 teeth discolored by tobacco, and over his angular features, 
 which suggest Lincoln's in ampleness and shape, the same 
 half-tender melancholy. 'Mr. Lincoln,' said Mr. Hern- 
 don, 'cared so little about clothes that he sometimes did 
 :not put all of them on. He was brought up barefoot.' 
 Mr. Herndon, by parallel, wears today a bright yellow 
 pair of breeches, turned up twice at the bottom, and looks 
 to be a wind-hardened farmer, rather than one of the best 
 lawyers in the State. . . . His address is homely in form, 
 commencing with, 'Friend, I'll answer your question;' and 
 this he does without equivocation, with his long forefinger 
 extended, and with such a fund of new information upon 
 the revered memory in question that although the Lincoln 
 8 Original owned by Oliver R. Barrett, Chicago, Illinois. 
 
XXV111 EDITOR S PREFACE 
 
 biographers, from Holland up, have talked with him, he 
 seems to be brim-full of new reminiscences. With an 
 extraordinary memory, and great facility of inference, and 
 a sturdy originality of opinion, he had the effect upon me 
 to stagger all my notions of the dead President." 
 
 The first use to which Herndon himself put his material 
 was a series of lectures delivered in the winter of 1865-66. 
 Both of the Springfield business colleges were offering 
 lecture courses for the instruction of their students and the 
 townspeople generally, and under their auspices he spoke 
 three times. 
 
 His first appearance was on the evening of December 
 12, 1865, when he delivered his "Analysis of the Char- 
 acter of Abraham Lincoln" in the hall of Rutledge & 
 Davidson's Commercial College. "A large and highly 
 intelligent audience" listened with "the most marked at- 
 tention" 9 to the analytical estimate which has since, in 
 condensed form, become famous as the last chapter of the 
 biography. On the 23rd of the same month he spoke again 
 on the characteristically worded subject : "1st. Mr. Lincoln's 
 Imagination and Fancy. 2d. Will and its Power. 3d. 
 Selfishness and Self-reliance. 4th. Religion. 5th. Elo- 
 quence, etc., etc., etc." Again a large, intelligent, "appre- 
 ciative and refined" assemblage listened to his remarks. 10 
 A month later, on January 23, 1866, he delivered his third 
 lecture, this time on "The Patriotism and Statesmanship 
 of Mr. Lincoln." Not only was the audience large, intelli- 
 gent and refined, but "fashionable" as well. 11 
 
 So far Herndon had got along excellently. His audi- 
 ences were interested, and the town's papers were shower- 
 ing him with compliments, predicting — rightly — that he was 
 making important contributions to history. It was with 
 the delivery of his fourth lecture ten months later that 
 flattery turned to condemnation. On November 16, 1866 
 he spoke in the Court House on the subject, "A. Lincoln — 
 Miss Anne Rutledge, New Salem — Pioneering, and the 
 
 9 Illinois State Journal, December 13, 1865. 
 
 10 Ibid., December 27, 1865. 
 n Ibid., January 24, 1866. 
 
EDITORS PREFACE XXIX 
 
 poem called Immortality — or 'Oh ! Why Should the Spirit 
 of Mortal be Proud'," and thus started a running battle 
 of many years' duration. 
 
 Though his first two lectures had been reported in part, 
 the fourth was the first to be published in full. 12 The 
 Springfield newspapers welcomed in this fact an excuse 
 for not commenting on the production, but many papers 
 elsewhere, abroad as well as in this country, printed exten- 
 sive extracts. Some noticed the lecture editorially, the 
 Chicago Tribune terming the Ann Rutledge episode an 
 "idle tale," and expressing regret that it had ever been 
 made public. Letters of remonstrance poured in upon 
 Herndon. In replying to one — from Isaac N. Arnold 
 reproaching him for explaining all the facts of Lincoln's 
 life — he set forth his biographical creed. "Is any man so 
 insane," he asked, "as to suppose that any truth concerning 
 Lincoln will be hid and buried out of human view ? Folly ! 
 The best way is to tell the whole truth and let it burn 
 up lies. Lincoln is above reproach, thank God ; let no 
 one fear to have all the truth about him brought clearly 
 to light." 13 
 
 The most serious attack, however, came from East 
 Cainno, Scotland. There, in the U. S. Consular Service, 
 was living James Smith, formerly pastor of the First 
 Presbyterian Church at Springfield. When Smith, already 
 greatly disturbed by an extract from the Ann Rutledge 
 lecture which he had seen in the Dundee Advertiser, re- 
 ceived an impertinent letter from Herndon asking him to 
 relate first as a gentleman and then as a Christian the 
 particulars of Lincoln's alleged conversion, he eagerly com- 
 plied with the request. In a widely published letter he 
 denied that the law office was the place to judge character, 
 and implied that in the performance of his pastoral duties 
 his own opportunities had been incomparably superior to 
 those which Herndon had enjoyed. Judging from the 
 knowledge thus obtained he was sure the relationship 
 
 12 Herndon to Kline, Nov. 25, 1866. Original owned by Oliver 
 R. Barrett, Chicago, Illinois. 
 
 13 .Quoted in Newton, op. cit., p. 292. 
 
XXX EDITOR S PREFACE 
 
 between Lincoln and his wife was a happy one, unaffected 
 in the least by the New Salem romance. 
 
 In the latter conclusion Smith was probably right, but 
 instead of stopping there he recounted how Lincoln had 
 been converted to Christianity through the examination of 
 a book of his own authorship, The Christian's Defence. 
 For good measure he added a few references to Herndon 
 as Lincoln's "false friend," and closed by comparing him 
 with the assassin Booth. 14 Herndon replied by charging 
 that the minister's reputation for veracity was none too 
 good, and by contemptuously describing him as a "great old 
 rascal." 
 
 Thus began the most bitter of all the controversies which 
 centered around Herndon and his biographical labors — 
 that over his account of Lincoln's religious opinions. The 
 publication of Ward Hill Lamon's Life of Abraham Lin- 
 coln in 1872 was the next step in the dispute. Herndon 
 had sold copies of his manuscripts to Lamon, and from 
 these Chauncey F. Black had written the book. Many of 
 Herndon's statements were quoted, and the damaging in- 
 ferences of the author were frequently attributed to him. 
 
 One statement, which Lamon quoted, drew the particular 
 ire of those who seemed to feel that the future of Chris- 
 ianity depended upon an affirmative answer to the question 
 of whether or not Lincoln had been a believer. "As to Mr. 
 Lincoln's religious views," Herndon had written, "He was, 
 in short, an infidel ... a theist. He did not believe that 
 Jesus was God, nor the Son of God, — was a fatalist, denied 
 the freedom of the will. Mr. Lincoln told me a thousand 
 times, that he did not believe the Bible was the revelation 
 of God, as the Christian world contends." To supplement 
 this statement Lamon had printed others of similar char- 
 acter which Herndon had taken from John T. Stuart, 
 James H. Matheny and other Springfield associates of Lin- 
 coln. 
 
 A reply was not long in coming. Upon the publication 
 of Lamon's book James A. Reed, pastor of the First 
 Presbyterian Church of Springfield, interviewed the men 
 
 14 Illinois State Journal, March 12, 1867. 
 
EDITORS PREFACE XXXI 
 
 whom Lamon had quoted, and obtained statements to the 
 effect that Herndon had taken liberties with what they had 
 actually told him. Using these counter-statements as a 
 framework, he put together a lecture the burden of which 
 was that Lincoln, though not a church member, was in all 
 other respects an orthodox Christian. After it had been 
 delivered before numerous audiences Reed's lecture was 
 published in Scribner's Magazine. 
 
 Herndon answered with an address on Lincoln's religion, 
 delivered in the Court House at Springfield in the spring 
 of 1874, and published by the Illinois State Register as a 
 special supplement. He stood by his notes of the Stuart 
 and Matheny interviews, maintaining that in the years 
 which had since elapsed, those gentlemen had forgotten 
 what they really told him. But to Thomas Lewis, whom 
 Dr. Reed had also quoted, Herndon paid his respects in 
 words which, unfortunately, were too nearly typical of the 
 entire address : "I have heard good men say they would 
 not believe his word under any circumstances, especially so, 
 if he was interested. " To support his case Herndon ad- 
 duced additional testimony from Mrs. Lincoln and John 
 G. Nicolay, the President's private secretary. 
 
 This controversy, in Herndon's belief, was responsible 
 for items which now began to go the rounds of the press, 
 charging that he was a lunatic, a pauper, a drunkard, an 
 infidel, a liar, a knave, and almost every other species of 
 degradation. These slanders he contradicted as well as he 
 could; but when, in September, 1882, the Cherryvale 
 (Kansas) Globe-News published the following, his temper 
 got beyond control. 
 
 "Lincoln's Old Law Partner a Pauper 
 
 "Bill Herndon is a pauper in Springfield, 111. He was 
 once worth considerable property. His mind was the most 
 argumentative of any of the old lawyers in the State, and 
 his memory was extraordinary. . . . Herndon, with all his 
 attainments, was a man who now and then went on a spree, 
 and it was no uncommon thing for him to leave an impor- 
 tant lawsuit and spend several days in drinking and carous- 
 
XXX11 EDITOR S PREFACE 
 
 ing. This habit became worse after Lincoln's death, and 
 like poor Dick Yates, Herndon went down step by step till 
 his old friends and associates point to him as a common 
 drunkard." 
 
 On November 9, 1882, Herndon issued a broadside 
 which he entitled "A Card and a Correction/' After im- 
 plying that Reed and others who held opinions concerning 
 Lincoln's religion opposite to his own, were in no small 
 measure responsible for this and similar allegations, he 
 made his defense in the following words : 
 
 "There are three distinct charges in the above article. 
 First, that I am a pauper. Second, that I am a common 
 drunkard, and third, that I was a traitor, or false to my 
 clients. Let me answer these charges in their order. First, 
 I am not a pauper, never have been and never expect to be. 
 I am working on my own farm, making my own living with 
 my own muscle and brain, a place and a calling that even 
 Christianity with its persecution and malignity can never 
 reach me to do me much harm. I had, it is true, once a con- 
 siderable property, but lost much of it in the crash and 
 consequent crisis of 1873, caused in part by the contraction 
 of the currency, the decline in the demand for agricultural 
 products, which I raised for sale, in part by the inability 
 of the people to buy, etc., etc., and for no other reasons. 
 
 "Second, I never was a common drunkard, as I look 
 at it, and am not now. I am and have been for years an 
 ardent and enthusiastic temperance man, though opposed 
 to prohibition by law, by any force or other choker. The 
 time has not come for this. It is a fact that I once, years 
 ago, went on a spree; and this I now deeply regret. It 
 however is in the past, and let a good life in the future 
 bury the past. I have not fallen, I have risen, and all 
 good men and women will applaud the deed, always ex- 
 cepting a small, little, bitter Christian like the Right Rev. 
 pastor and liar of this city, to whom I can trace some of 
 the above charges. In my case this minister was an eager, 
 itching libeller, and what he said of me is false — nay, a 
 willful lie. 
 
EDITOR S PREFACE XXX111 
 
 "Third, I never was a traitor or untrue to my clients 
 or their interests. I never left them during the progress 
 of a trial or at other times for the causes alleged, drunk- 
 enness. I may have crept — slid — out of a case during 
 the trial because I had no faith in it, leaving Mr. Lincoln, 
 who had faith in it, to run it through. My want of faith 
 in the case would have been discovered by the jury and that 
 discovery would have damaged my client, and to save my 
 client I dodged. This is all there is in it and let men make 
 the most of it." 15 
 
 Meanwhile, the long-contemplated biography was still 
 unwritten. Herndon's financial position, after Lincoln's 
 death, was not such as to permit him to devote his time 
 to the book, while the reception which Lamon's biography 
 received was not likely to encourage another to attempt a 
 similar enterprise. Realizing this, Herndon decided upon 
 a series of newspaper or magazine articles rather than a 
 full-length biography. By this time, however, his health 
 was failing, and somehow the articles remained in the 
 realm of plans. It was then — the early '80's — that Jesse 
 W. Weik of Greencastle, Indiana, a young man recently 
 graduated from DePauw University, visited Springfield. 
 For some years Weik had been in correspondence with 
 Herndon, and the older man soon took him into his com- 
 plete confidence, entrusting him with his literary plans, 
 and asking him to collaborate with him in their accom- 
 plishment. 
 
 Weik accepted. Investigation, however, convinced him 
 that Herndon's material, supplemented with more that was 
 readily accessible, was far too extensive and important to 
 be used merely for newspaper or magazine purposes. He 
 soon persuaded Herndon that the biography, after all, 
 should be written. With this end in view he made Spring- 
 field his residence, and spent his free time for some years 
 in additional research under Herndon's direction. Finally 
 the co-authors were satisfied that they had exhausted the 
 field, and the actual writing, largely to be performed by 
 
 15 A copy of this broadside is preserved in the Illinois State 
 Historical Library. 
 
XXXIV EDITORS PREFACE 
 
 Weik, was commenced. In the summer of 1889 the firm 
 of Bel ford, Clark and Company, of Chicago, brought out 
 Herndon's Lincoln: The True Story of a Great Life, by 
 William H. Herndon and Jesse W. Weik. 
 
 The attacks which Herndon's last lectures had provoked 
 had foreshadowed the reception his book was to receive. 
 In Springfield there went up a chorus of disapproval the 
 echoes of which are still audible. Everywhere those who 
 had come to conceive of Lincoln in more than human 
 terms were shocked, and their denunciations were loud and 
 bitter. The passions which the book aroused, and the spe- 
 cific points of attack on which the idolaters concentrated, 
 are well illustrated by the blast of condemnation with which 
 the Chicago Journal greeted it. 
 
 "It is one of the most infamous books ever written and 
 printed in the garb of a historical work to a great and 
 illustrious man," the reviewer thundered. "It vilely dis- 
 torts the image of an ideal statesman, patriot and martyr. 
 It clothes him in vulgarity and grossness. Its indecencies 
 are spread like a curtain to hide the collossal proportions 
 and the splendid purity of his character. It makes him 
 the buffoon and jester which his enemies describe — that 
 is, it makes his buffoonery the principal trait of his mind 
 and the most conspicuous of his habits. It brings out all 
 that should have been hidden — it reproduces shameless 
 gossip and hearsay not authenticated by proof — it magni- 
 fies the idle and thoughtless antics of youth as main fea- 
 tures of the man in his life and accomplishments — it 
 degrades and belittles him. Where it aspires to be pathetic 
 and eulogistic it is a failure. The pathos is maudlin, and 
 the eulogy is tawdry. . . . 
 
 "The obscenity of the work is surprising and shocking. 
 Anthony Comstock should give it his attention. It is not 
 fit for family reading. Its salacious narrative and impli- 
 cations, and its elaborate columnies not only of Lincoln 
 himself but of his mother, and in regard to morals gener- 
 ally of his mother's side of the family, are simply out- 
 rageous. . . . 
 
 "That portion of the narrative which relates to Lincoln's 
 
EDITOR S PREFACE XXXV 
 
 courtship of Ann Rutledge and his subsequent attentions 
 to Mary S. Owens, with his final marriage to Mary Todd, 
 is indelicate, in every way in bad taste, is insulting to the 
 memory of the dead, and calculated to mortify and lacerate 
 the hearts of the living. Equally shameful is the discus- 
 sion of Lincoln's unripened religious, or rather irreligious, 
 beliefs, which he abandoned when he came to feel and 
 know that an overwhelming Providence was his guide. In 
 all its parts and aspects — if we are a judge, and we think 
 we are, of the proprieties of literature and of human life — 
 we declare that this book is so bad it could hardly have been 
 worse." 
 
 It is pleasant to record that while this review stated 
 accurately enough the attitude of large numbers of indi- 
 viduals toward the Herndon biography, it was by no means 
 typical of the opinion of literary critics. Many newspapers 
 commended the book, and several periodicals praised it. 
 Life and The Literary World not only spoke highly 
 of Herndon's fidelity to truth, but predicted that the ulti- 
 mate effect of the book would be to exalt the memory 
 of Lincoln. "Here is the utmost that the plainest speak- 
 ing in love has to deliver about the personal life of a 
 strangely harassed and tortured man," commented the 
 latter, yet, in the opinion of its reviewer, Lincoln remained 
 "a noble man of Nature's making, a statesman who fol- 
 lowed humbly the teaching of the Eternally Righteous 
 Power, a scarred and suffering hero, forever dear to every 
 true American heart." 
 
 The Atlantic Monthly and the Nation, noted then as 
 now for the quality of their literary pronouncements, both 
 made the book the object of discriminating praise. No 
 better estimate was made than that which appeared in the 
 latter journal. For sympathetic appreciation of the char- 
 acter of the author, and for fine understanding of his 
 purpose, it has never been excelled, as the following extract 
 will show. 
 
 "Mr. Herndon's personal recollections of Lincoln will 
 doubtless remain the most authentic and trustworthy source 
 of information concerning the great man in the period 
 
XXX VI EDITOR S PREFACE 
 
 prior to his election to the Presidency. . . . The sincerity 
 and honesty of the biographer appear on every page. It 
 is impossible to doubt that he has meant to tell us candidly 
 what he knows about Lincoln. His long and intimate 
 association with his hero gave him unequalled opportunity 
 of knowing and estimating the man. He does not look at 
 Lincoln's career in the light of the great events and great 
 responsibilities of his Presidency, but interprets these in 
 view of the known character and the familiar qualities he 
 had watched in their growth for twenty years. 
 
 "The reader of these memoirs must not look for an 
 adequate estimate of Lincoln's place in history, or for an 
 authoritative judgment of his conduct of national affairs 
 during the great civil war. He must expect, rather, to be 
 helped to understand how Abraham Lincoln became the 
 man he was, and what manner of man he was when the 
 election of 1860 threw upon him a burden of responsi- 
 bilities hardly paralleled in history. The book is not such 
 a one as a trained writer would have produced. It is more 
 valuable because it is not. Facts are not selected with art 
 to compose a predetermined picture; but we feel that an 
 honest chronicler, who thoroughly knew his subject, has 
 collected nearly everything authentic which can be known 
 of Lincoln before his great elevation. We have much 
 that is trivial, some things which are in bad taste, but we 
 are made to feel, after all, that we are looking upon Lin- 
 coln's life as he actually lived it. It depends upon our- 
 selves whether he is belittled by the revelation of things 
 ordinarily kept behind a curtain. We have the opportun- 
 ity to know him as the valet would know him, and if we 
 are of the valet's make-up, the proverbial result may 
 happen, and he will be no hero to us." 
 
 Though he was now an old man, failing in health, 
 Herndon's equanimity was not greatly disturbed by at- 
 tacks upon his book. "Men love old truths, never new 
 ones, as a general rule ;" he wrote a friend, 16 "they handle 
 
 18 Truman H. Bartlett, December 20, 1889. This is one of a 
 number of letters written by Herndon to Bartlett between 1887 
 and 1891. The originals are in the Massachusetts Historical 
 Society, Boston, Massachusetts. 
 
EDITOR S PREFACE XXXV11 
 
 truths gingerly, but there are some that do love the truth 
 for its own sake; and sooner or later the life of L. will 
 find them. I drew the picture of Mr. Lincoln as I saw 
 and knew him. I told the naked God's truth, and I'll 
 stand by it, let the consequences be what they may be. I 
 think that the great majority of the critics look at the 
 book favorably. I get a great many private letters con- 
 gratulating me on the book. It is a curious and a wonder- 
 ful fact that no critic and no other man doubts the facts — 
 the truths stated by me in the life of L." 
 
 In one respect, however, Herndon was to be bitterly 
 disappointed. "When I finished the life of Lincoln I was 
 as poor as a church mouse/' he confessed, 17 "and am so 
 yet. To get it published I had to bend to terms. I was 
 compelled to wait for books or money till the publishers 
 were paid in full. They have not as yet been paid as I am 
 informed. Consequently I have received up to this day 
 no books — no money, neither of them. I am compelled 
 to work on my farm today for my tomorrow's bread and 
 butter. This explains to you why I have not sent you a 
 copy, but I will sometime, if I live." 
 
 That time never came, for within a few weeks Hern- 
 don's first publishers failed. Assisted by Horace White, 
 he began the preparation of a new and revised edition, 
 to be brought out by a different firm. When everything 
 seemed to point at last to success, the final disappointment 
 interposed. On March 18, 1891, death came to William 
 H. Herndon. 
 
 IV 
 
 There can be little question but that William H. Hern- 
 don contributed more than any other individual to our 
 knowledge of Lincoln's life and character. Yet few 
 students have accepted all that he wrote. Even fewer 
 have discarded his work in its entirety. Most have simply 
 adopted those parts of his book which harmonized with 
 their own conceptions of Lincoln, and have branded as ob- 
 
 17 Ibid. 
 
XXXV111 EDITOR S PREFACE 
 
 viously untrue those statements which they preferred not 
 to believe. Occasional attempts have been made to prove 
 or disprove certain of his contentions by independent 
 evidence, but successful as this method may be in isolated 
 instances, a large part of the book is, by its very nature, 
 unamenable to such procedure. How, for instance, can 
 one prove or disprove that Lincoln told Herndon that his 
 mother was an illegitimate child? 
 
 It is this — the intimate, personal character of Herndon's 
 biography — coupled with the fact that in some instances 
 errors have been definitely proved, that makes a general 
 estimate of his reliability imperative. The material with 
 which to form such an estimate 1 — to work out a general 
 formula, so to speak — is to be found in his own life and 
 character. 
 
 Herndon was certainly not a liar. Surpassing even his 
 devotion to Lincoln was his passion for truth. Never, 
 knowingly, would he distort a fact. 18 But to a passion for 
 truth must be joined the capacity to recognize it. It is 
 here that personality enters. Emotional, sentimental, 
 steeped in New England transcendentalism, Herndon was 
 inordinately fond of peering into the souls of his acquaint- 
 ances in what would now be called psychoanalytical fash- 
 ion. He was firmly convinced that truth could be got at 
 by intuition, and he never doubted his own clairvoyant 
 capacity. "If there is anything that a poor ignorant Sucker 
 like myself can arrogate to himself it is this, namely, an 
 intuitive seeing of human character/' he once wrote Theo- 
 dore Parker. 
 
 Confidence in his power of intuitive perception was, in 
 fact, a dominant characteristic of William H. Herndon. 
 Time after time he relied implicitly upon this faculty. 
 When, early in 1858, he called on Douglas in an effort to 
 discover what was in that statesman's mind, he was con- 
 fident that words between them would be superfluous. 
 "I told you once, if not oftener," he explained to Parker 
 some months later, "that if I could look Douglas in the 
 
 18 For an apparent exception to this statement and its sig- 
 nificance see pp. 314-15, note. 
 
EDITOR S PREFACE XXXIX 
 
 eye I could tell what was going on. Doubtless you thought 
 I was foolish. I did so, and told you all I dared, when in 
 Boston. There is a peculiar tie which binds men together, 
 who have drank 'bouts' together. So with Douglas and 
 my humble self. I am hard to fool, friend, by man. I 
 can read him about as well as he knows himself. " 
 
 Herndon's correspondence contains many references to 
 this faculty. The politicians, the "knowing ones," say that 
 Lincoln is certain of victory over Douglas? "My intui- 
 tion — brute forecast, if you will — my bones, tell me that 
 all is not safe; yet I hope for the best." The Republicans 
 of Illinois adopt Douglas as their own? "I am a young, 
 undisciplined, uneducated, wild man, but I can see to the 
 gizzard of this question. . . . My dog-sagacity, my mind 
 instinct, says — fool !" And so forth. 
 
 It was natural that such a man would seek to solve the 
 enigmas of Lincoln's character by the intuitive method. 
 That he attempted to do so he himself confessed. In a 
 letter to J. E. Remsberg, written in September, 1887, he 
 offered what may well be the key to the whole problem of 
 his credibility as a biographer. 
 
 "Probably, except in his scrapes," he wrote, "Lincoln 
 never poured out his soul to any mortal creature at anytime 
 and on no subject. He was the most secretive — reticent — 
 shut-mouthed man that ever existed. 
 
 "You had to guess at the man after years of acquaint- 
 ance, and then you must look long and keenly before you 
 guessed or you would make an ass of yourself. 
 
 "You had to take some leading — great leading and a 
 well established fact of Lincoln's nature and then follow 
 it by accurate and close analysis wherever it went. 
 
 "This process would lead you correctly if you knew 
 human nature and its laws." 19 
 
 It was in this process of guessing, of analysing and in- 
 ferring from known facts, that Herndon went astray. 
 Not always — not even often, in fact — but still frequently 
 enough to make his book unacceptable in its entirety. As 
 
 19 A printed copy of this letter is in the Illinois State His- 
 torical Library. 
 
xl EDITOR'S PREFACE 
 
 a reporter of that which he himself observed at first hand, 
 barring, of course, inevitable errors of memory, he was 
 unexcelled. Witness, as an example, his incomparable 
 description of Lincoln's appearance. As an investigator 
 he was less reliable. An emotional nature, easily roused 
 to enthusiasm, is not ideal equipment for the weighing of 
 evidence. As a delineator of character — an analyst — he 
 was most fallible, tending to ascribe to Lincoln what would 
 have been his own reaction in similar circumstances. 
 
 In short, when Herndon relates a fact as of his own 
 observation, it may generally be accepted without question ; 
 when his account is based on the observations and recol- 
 lections of others, the possibility of error must be ac- 
 knowledged ; when what he writes is obviously the result 
 of inference — of "guessing" — it had best be tested by in- 
 dependent evidence, or, if independent evidence is not 
 available, common sense. 
 
 If this estimate is correct, then Herndon's account of 
 Lincoln's belief in his mother's illegitimacy, one of the 
 main points of controversy in the biography, must be ac- 
 cepted without qualification, for it comes as an unequivo- 
 cal statement made directly by Lincoln to the author. As 
 a matter of fact, the weight of independent evidence sup- 
 ports the truth of the statement, although proof beyond 
 the possibility of a doubt has never been assembled. 20 Even 
 if it should be established that Nancy Hanks was born in 
 lawful wedlock — a development which does not seem likely 
 — Herndon's reliability would not necessarily be impaired. 
 The question is so difficult of solution that it would not 
 be strange if Lincoln himself had been mistaken. 
 
 This formula can best be applied to the second disputed 
 point in the Herndon biography, the Ann Rutledge ro- 
 mance, by considering its two different aspects separately. 
 Not only were Lincoln and Ann in love; but, according 
 to Herndon, his affection for her was so great that her 
 
 20 The case for the legitimacy of Nancy Hanks is best stated 
 by Louis A. Warren in Lincoln's Parentage and Childhood. 
 The opposite view is ably and concisely put by William E. Barton 
 in The Lineage of Lincoln. 
 
editor's preface xli 
 
 death plunged him immediately into a period of near- 
 insanity, and affected him deeply — mainly by bringing on 
 spells of intense depression — throughout his life. 
 
 Herndon's account of the romance itself is based entirely 
 on the testimony of others. At the time of Ann Rutledge's 
 death he was only seventeen years old, and had known 
 Lincoln no more than a year, and casually at that. Even 
 so, he might have heard something of the attachment ; but 
 his lecture of November 16, 1866, makes it reasonably 
 clear that his first knowledge of the episode was acquired 
 in the autumn of that year, when he interviewed John 
 McNamar at his home near Petersburg. McNamar gave 
 him the outline of the story he related in the lecture. Given 
 the lead, Herndon followed it assiduously, writing every 
 member of the Rutledge family and every New Salem 
 resident with whom he could establish a contact. Thus his 
 role was that of an investigator — not that of one who was 
 recording the story of a romance observed at first hand. 
 The possibility of error must be reckoned with. 
 
 Of reliable evidence touching upon the romance itself, 
 there is not the slightest particle. No contemporary record 
 containing even a hint has ever been discovered. Several 
 considerations, however, merit mention. By his own state- 
 ment John McNamar, Herndon's first informant, had left 
 New Salem before Lincoln's feeling for Ann became evi- 
 dent, and did not return until after her death. Moreover, 
 McNamar and all of Herndon's other informants were 
 recalling an episode which had terminated thirty-one years 
 before they were called upon to describe it. It would be 
 strange indeed if some measure of exaggeration did not 
 creep into a story so perfectly suited for romancing. But 
 the most important consideration is the fact that while the 
 footnotes in the biography indicate a unanimity of testi- 
 mony with reference to the love of Lincoln and Ann, such 
 was not the case. Some of those to whom Herndon wrote 
 replied that in their opinion the affair amounted to noth- 
 ing, others felt that Ann cared just as much for McNamar 
 as for Lincoln, while 'Uncle' Jimmy Short, whom Lincoln 
 visited every few days, said that he had never heard of the 
 
xlii editor's preface 
 
 episode. Like many another passionate theorist, Herndon 
 printed only the statements which supported his own case. 
 Certainly Ann Rutledge and Lincoln knew each other; 
 probably they formed a mutual attachment; possibly they 
 were in love. But until reliable contemporary evidence 
 is discovered, there will always be room for skepticism. 
 
 For his account of the immediate effect of Ann's death 
 on Lincoln, Herndon likewise depended on the testimony 
 of others. Here again the length of time between the 
 event and the relation of it is worth bearing in mind. But 
 here, for the first time, a contemporary record has some 
 bearing. At New Salem there lived a certain Mathew S. 
 Marsh who, on September 22, 1835, wrote a long letter 
 to his brother in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. "The Post 
 Master (Mr. Lincoln )" said Marsh, "is very careless 
 about leaving his office open and unlocked during the day 
 — half the time I go in and get my papers, etc. without any- 
 one being there as was the case yesterday. The letter 
 was only marked 25 and even if he had been there and 
 known it was double, he would not have charged me any 
 more — luckily he is a very clever fellow and a particular 
 friend of mine. If he is there when I carry this to the 
 office— I will get him to 'Frank' it—." a 
 
 Now, as Herndon relates the story, the depression which 
 seized Lincoln upon Ann's death grew until friends feared 
 for his sanity. Finally his condition became so alarming 
 that he was induced to put himself under the care of 
 Bowling Green, at whose home he remained "some weeks," 
 emerging with his equilibrium restored. But cold chrono- 
 logy indicates that this version is somewhat too highly 
 colored. Ann Rutledge died on August 25, 1835. Less 
 than four weeks later Lincoln was attending to his duties 
 as postmaster, somewhat carelessly, to be sure, yet Marsh 
 implies that the carelessness was customary, and not the 
 result of a recent emotional upheaval. Furthermore, his 
 letter gives no hint that Lincoln had not been performing 
 these same duties uninterruptedly. In another portion of 
 the letter Marsh comments at length upon the prevalence 
 21 Original owned by Oliver R. Barrett, Chicago, Illinois. 
 
editor's preface xliii 
 
 of sickness in the community, and mentions several deaths. 
 Yet the death which is supposed almost to have impaired 
 the reason of his "particular friend" is passed by without 
 notice. In view of these facts it is difficult to accept at 
 face value Herndon's account of the cataclysmic effect of 
 Ann's death upon Lincoln. 
 
 The enduring effect is, of course, pure inference. Hern- 
 don believed that Ann's death was largely responsible for 
 Lincoln's recurrent melancholy, and he also believed — at 
 least in 1866, when he delivered his famous lecture — that 
 Ann was the only woman Lincoln ever loved. Neither 
 belief has probability for a support. Indeed, competent 
 medical opinion holds that it is next to impossible, psy- 
 chologically, for an emotional attachment to endure for 
 anything like the lifetime of a man unless it be stimulated 
 by frequent personal contact. Herndon was certainly 
 "guessing" when he traced Ann's influence through Lin- 
 coln's life. 
 
 But what about the wedding at which Lincoln failed to 
 appear? And what about the record of his domestic 
 difficulties ? 
 
 Nowhere in his narrative does Herndon indicate that he 
 was among those invited to the home of Ninian W. Ed- 
 wards on January 1, 1841. Moreover, he was not yet a 
 student in the office of Logan and Lincoln. Consequently, 
 it is safe to assume that he was relying on the recollections 
 of others when he wrote his story of the wedding and the 
 missing bridegroom. And what a tangle of contradictions 
 those recollections are ! Every positive statement in sup- 
 port of Herndon's narrative can be matched by an equally 
 positive one in flat contradiction. In this dilemma, it would 
 seem to be the part of wisdom to disregard the reminis- 
 cences and to try to discover what happened — or at least 
 what did not happen — by a different approach. 
 
 From this point of view, there are certain significant 
 considerations. In the first place, to shirk the wedding 
 as Herndon asserts Lincoln did is entirely out of harmony 
 with his known character. In the second place, the mar- 
 riage license records of Sangamon County — which are 
 
xliv editor's preface 
 
 complete — show that no license was issued to Lincoln on 
 or before January 1, 1841, which would hardly have been 
 the case had he changed his mind at the last moment. In 
 the third place, a recently discovered letter, which cannot 
 yet be made public, proves that six months after Lincoln 
 is said publicly to have humiliated her, Mary Todd not 
 only bore him no resentment, but was anxious that their 
 former relations be resumed. Certainly this would not 
 have been the case if Herndon's account is literally cor- 
 rect. 
 
 Yet Lincoln's letters to Speed leave no doubt whatever 
 but that the break with Mary Todd came on his own in- 
 itiative. If he did not break the engagement by failing 
 to appear at the altar, the fact still remains that he broke 
 the engagement. Moreover, the critical will do well to re- 
 member, before blaming Herndon too severely, that in 
 bringing to light Lincoln's letters to Speed, and the earlier, 
 character-revealing series to Mary Owens, he threw as 
 much light on the causes of the estrangement as is likely 
 ever to be available. 
 
 As to Lincoln's domestic difficulties, no fair-minded 
 student can disregard what Herndon wrote. The support- 
 ing testimony of other contemporaries is too overwhelming. 
 But here, as in his account of the Ann Rutledge romance, 
 he was not content to let the facts stand alone — he 
 must furnish an explanation. Gravely he explains that 
 Mary Todd married Lincoln so that she might obtain 
 revenge for the humiliation to which he had subjected her, 
 and that the "bitterness of a disappointed and outraged 
 nature . . . followed as logically as an effect does the 
 cause." No better example can be found of the absurdities 
 to which Herndon's propensity for drawing inferences led 
 him. 
 
 Only the subject of Lincoln's religion remains. In the 
 light of modern liberalism the controversy seems foolish. 
 Lincoln, said Herndon, believed in a God and in a life after 
 death, and if he was skeptical of the divine origin of the 
 Bible, he at least accepted it as a practical guide. But he 
 
editor's preface xlv 
 
 was not an orthodox Christian, and nothing infuriated the 
 junior partner more than the attempts of various sec- 
 tarians to claim him as one. In the controversies that al- 
 most invariably ensued, Herndon usually lost his temper, 
 and the ministers themselves did not exhibit a notable de- 
 gree of Christian meekness and forebearance. 
 
 Moreover, it should be borne in mind that Herndon, 
 deeply read in philosophy, was accustomed to the use of 
 terms which to many of his readers and auditors had only 
 a vague and sinister significance. When he described 
 Lincoln as a theist, few understood what he really meant, 
 for the same laxity which today confuses bolshevik and 
 socialist existed then with reference to the various de- 
 scriptions of religious unorthodoxy. 
 
 Had he written of Lincoln's religion in the biography 
 as he wrote of it in a personal letter, 22 there could have been 
 little cause for complaint. "I have often said that Mr. 
 Lincoln was an Infidel and / say it now/' he stated. ". . . 
 Now what is an Infidel? As the Infidels use the word it 
 means those who deny that the Bible is the divine special 
 revelation of God. . . . Lincoln was a Deist if that word 
 suits — fits the case better. / well know that all this is no 
 evidence of a want of religion in Mr. Lincoln: it is rather 
 an evidence that he had his own religion. I have said for 
 more than twenty years that Mr. Lincoln was a thoroughly 
 religious man — a man of exalted notions of right — justice 
 — duty, etc., etc." Truly, as Herndon observed in another 
 connection, "the world is full of fuss and fight simply 
 because men do not understand one another." 
 
 Nevertheless, there can be little question but that during 
 the last years of his life Lincoln went through a spiritual 
 development with which his former partner was unfamil- 
 iar. The tragedy of war and the death of William Wallace, 
 his favorite son, both contributed to the depth of religious 
 feeling so evident in his later writings. Had Herndon 
 known of this growth he might have written more warmly 
 
 22 To Truman H. Bartlett, October, 1887. The italics are 
 Herndon's. 
 
xlvi editor's preface 
 
 of Lincoln's faith. That he was unfamiliar with it in no 
 wise invalidates what he wrote of the religion of the earlier 
 Lincoln. 
 
 After all, these weaknesses are no more than slight blem- 
 ishes in a notable book. Admit that Herndon exaggerated 
 the effect of the death of Ann Rutledge, admit that he 
 colored the wedding scene too highly, admit that now and 
 then he drew a foolish inference — and the value of his 
 work is not perceptibly affected. Half a century and more 
 has only given emphasis to the prediction of Horace White 
 that "as a portraiture of the man Lincoln. ... I venture 
 to think that Mr. Herndon's work will never be surpassed." 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
HAPTER ONE 
 
 BEYOND THE FACT THAT HE WAS BORN ON THE I2TH DAY 
 
 of February, 1809, in Hardin County, Kentucky, Mr. 
 Lincoln usually had but little to say of himself, the lives 
 of his parents, or the history of the family before their 
 removal to Indiana. If he mentioned the subject at all, it 
 was with great reluctance and significant reserve. There 
 was something about his origin he never cared to dwell 
 upon. His nomination for the Presidency in 1860, how- 
 ever, made the publication of his life a necessity, and 
 attracted to Springfield an army of campaign biographers 
 and newspaper men. They met him in his office, stopped 
 him in his walks, and followed him to his house. Artists 
 came to paint his picture, and sculptors to make his bust. 
 His autographs were in demand, and people came long 
 distances to shake him by the hand. This sudden elevation 
 to national prominence found Mr. Lincoln unprepared in a 
 great measure for the unaccustomed demonstrations that 
 awaited him. While he was easy of approach and equally 
 courteous to all, yet, as he said to me one evening after a 
 long day of hand-shaking, he could not understand why 
 people should make so much over him. 
 
 Among the earliest newspaper men to arrive in Spring- 
 field after the Chicago convention was the late J. L. Scripps 
 of the Chicago Tribune, who proposed to prepare a history 
 of his life. Mr. Lincoln deprecated the idea of writing 
 even a campaign biography. "Why, Scripps," said he, "it 
 is a great piece of folly to attempt to make anything out of 
 me or my early life. It can all be condensed in to a single 
 sentence, and that sentence you will find in Gray's Elegy, 
 
2 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 The short and simple annals of the poor/ 
 
 That's my life, and that's all you or anyone else can make 
 out of it." 
 
 He did, however, communicate some facts and meagre 
 incidents of his early days, and, with the matter thus ob- 
 tained, Mr. Scripps prepared his book. Soon after the 
 death of Lincoln I received a letter from Scripps, in which, 
 among other things, he recalled the meeting with Lincoln, 
 and the view he took of the biography matter. 
 
 "Lincoln seemed to be painfully impressed," he wrote, 
 "with the extreme poverty of his early surroundings, and 
 the utter absence of all romantic and heroic elements. He 
 communicated some facts to me concerning his ancestry, 
 which he did not wish to have published then, and which I 
 have never spoken of or alluded to before." 
 
 What the facts referred to by Mr. Scripps were we do 
 not know ; for he died several years ago without, so far as 
 is known, revealing them to anyone. 
 
 On the subject of his ancestry and origin I only remem- 
 ber one time when Mr. Lincoln ever referred to it. It 
 was about 1850, when he and I were driving in his one- 
 horse buggy to the court in Menard County, Illinois. The 
 suit we were going to try was one in which we were likely, 
 either directly or collaterally, to touch upon the subject 
 of hereditary traits. During the ride he spoke, for the 
 first time in my hearing, of his mother, dwelling on her 
 characteristics, and mentioning and enumerating what 
 qualities he inherited from her. He said, among other 
 things, that she was the illegitimate daughter of Lucy 
 Hanks and a well-bred Virginia farmer or planter ; * and 
 he argued that from this last source came his power of an- 
 
 1 Please see preface, p. xl. The original edition contains 
 the following footnote to this paragraph: "Dennis and John 
 Hanks have always insisted that Lincoln's mother was not a 
 Hanks, but a Sparrow. Both of them wrote to me that such 
 was the fact. Their object in insisting on this is apparent when 
 it is shown that Nancy Hanks was the daughter of Lucy Hanks, 
 who afterward married Henry Sparrow. It will be observed 
 that Mr. Lincoln claimed that his mother was a Hanks." 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 3 
 
 alysis, his logic, his mental activity, his ambition, and all the 
 qualities that distinguished him from the other members 
 and descendants of the Hanks family. His theory in 
 discussing the matter of hereditary traits had been, that, 
 for certain reasons, illegitimate children are oftentimes 
 sturdier and brighter than those born in lawful wedlock; 
 and in his case, he believed that his better nature and finer 
 qualities came from this broad-minded, unknown Virginian. 
 The revelation — painful as it was — called up the recollec- 
 tion of his mother, and, as the buggy jolted over the road, 
 he added ruefully, "God bless my mother; all that I am 
 or ever hope to be I owe to her," and immediately lapsed 
 into silence. 2 Our interchange of ideas ceased, and we 
 rode on for some time without exchanging a word. He 
 was sad and absorbed. Burying himself in thought, and 
 musing no doubt over the disclosure he had just made, he 
 drew round him a barrier which I feared to penetrate. His 
 words and melancholy tone made a deep impression on me. 
 It was an experience I can never forget. As we neared 
 the town of Petersburg we were overtaken by an old man 
 who rode beside us for awhile, and entertained us with 
 reminiscences of days on the frontier. Lincoln was re- 
 minded of several Indiana stories, and by the time we had 
 reached the unpretentious courthouse at our destination, 
 his sadness had passed away. 
 
 In only two instances did Mr. Lincoln over his own 
 hand leave any record of his history or family descent. 
 One of these was the modest bit of autobiography fur- 
 nished to Jesse W. Fell, in 1859, in which after stating that 
 his parents were born in Virginia of "undistinguished or 
 second families," he makes the brief mention of his 
 mother, saying that she came "of a family of the name of 
 Hanks." The other record was the register of marriages, 
 
 2 To this remark, in the original edition, Herndon added a 
 footnote, "If anyone will take the pains to read the Fell auto- 
 biography they will be struck with Lincoln's meagre reference 
 to his mother. He even fails to give her maiden or Christian 
 name, and devotes but three lines to her family. A history of 
 the Lincolns occupies almost an entire page." 
 
4 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 births, and deaths which he made in his father's Bible. 
 The latter now lies before me. That portion of the page 
 which probably contained the record of the marriage of 
 his parents, Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks, has been 
 lost; but fortunately the records of Washington County, 
 Kentucky, and the certificate of the minister who per- 
 formed the marriage ceremony — the Rev. Jesse Head — 
 fix the fact and the date of the latter on the 12th day of 
 June, 1806. 
 
 [Unknown to Herndon Lincoln had, on several oc- 
 casions, recorded what he knew about the history of his 
 family. While a member of Congress he had obtained 
 the name of David Lincoln of Rockingham County, Vir- 
 ginia, whom he wrote: "I shall be obliged if you will 
 write me, telling me whether you in any way know any 
 thing about my grandfather, what relation you are to him, 
 and so on." A reply was quickly forthcoming, and as 
 quickly answered, Lincoln writing his Virginia relative 
 all that he knew about his two uncles and the four broth- 
 ers of his grandfather, and closing with the question, 
 "Do you know anything about your family (or rather 
 I may now say our family) farther back than your grand- 
 father?" 
 
 Other letters which may have passed between Abraham 
 and David Lincoln have been lost. So have all except one 
 of a later correspondence with another member of the 
 family, Jesse Lincoln of Tennessee. To him Lincoln 
 wrote on April 1, 1854: "From what you say there can 
 be no doubt that you and I are of the same family. The 
 history of your family, as you give it, is precisely what I 
 have always heard, and partly know, of my own. As you 
 have supposed, I am the grandson of your Uncle Abra- 
 ham ; and the story of his death by the Indians, and of 
 Uncle Mordecai, then fourteen years old, killing one of 
 the Indians, is the legend more strongly than all other 
 imprinted on my mind and memory. I am the son of 
 grandfather's youngest son, Thomas. I have often heard 
 my father speak of his Uncle Isaac, residing at Watauga 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 5 
 
 (I think), near where the then states of Virginia, North 
 Carolina and Tennessee join, — you seem now to be some 
 hundred miles or so west of that. I often saw Uncle Mor- 
 decai, and Uncle Josiah I saw but once in my life; but I 
 never resided near either of them." 
 
 The most complete autobiographical statement which 
 Lincoln ever prepared, however, was written for none 
 other than John L. Scripps to whom he communicated 
 "some facts" which he did not wish to be published. Know- 
 ing that this statement w r as to be the basis of a campaign 
 biography, Lincoln wrote it in the third person. That part 
 which refers to his birth and ancestry follows: 
 
 "Abraham Lincoln was born February 12, 1809, then 
 in Hardin, now in the more recently formed county of La- 
 Rue, Kentucky. His father, Thomas, and grandfather, 
 Abraham, were born in Rockingham County, Virginia, 
 whither their ancestors had come from Berks County, 
 Pennsylvania. His lineage has been traced no farther 
 back than this. The family were originally Quakers, 3 
 though in later times they have fallen from the peculiar 
 habits of that people. The grandfather, Abraham, had 
 four brothers — Isaac, Jacob, John and Thomas. So far 
 as known, the descendants of Jacob and John are still in 
 Virginia. Isaac went to a place near where Virginia, 
 North Carolina and Tennessee join; and his descendants 
 are in that region. Thomas came to Kentucky, and after 
 many years died there, whence his descendants went to 
 Missouri. Abraham, grandfather of the subject of this 
 sketch, came to Kentucky, and was killed there by the 
 Indians, about the year 1784. He left a widow, three 
 sons and two daughters. The eldest son, Mordecai, re- 
 mained in Kentucky till late in life, when he removed to 
 Hancock County, Illinois, where soon after he died, and 
 where several of his descendants still remain. The second 
 son, Josiah, removed at an early date to a place on Blue 
 River, now within Hancock County, Indiana, but no recent 
 
 3 In this Lincoln was mistaken. 
 
6 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 information about him or his family has been obtained. 
 The eldest sister, Mary, married Ralph Crume, and some 
 of her descendants are now known to be in Breckinridge 
 County, Kentucky. The second sister, Nancy, married 
 William Brumfield, and her family are not known to have 
 left Kentucky, but there is no recent information from 
 them. Thomas, the youngest son, and father of the pres- 
 ent subject, by the early death of his father and very 
 narrow circumstances of his mother, even in childhood 
 was a wandering laboring boy and grew up literally with- 
 out education. He never did more in the way of writing 
 than to bunglingly write his own name. Before he was 
 grown, he passed one year as a hired hand with his Uncle 
 Isaac, on Watauga, a branch of the Holston River. Get- 
 ting back into Kentucky, and having reached his twenty- 
 eighth year, he married Nancy Hanks — mother of the 
 present subject — in the year 1806. She also was born in 
 Virginia; and relatives of hers of the name of Hanks, and 
 of other names, now reside in Coles, in Macon, and in 
 Adams Counties, Illinois, and also in Iowa."] 
 
 On the 10th day of February in the following year a 
 daughter Sarah was born, and two years later, on the 
 12th of February, the subject of these memoirs came 
 into the world. After him came the last child, a boy — 
 named Thomas after his father — who lived but a few 
 days. No mention of his existence is found in the Bible 
 record. 
 
 Most biographers of Lincoln, in speaking of Mr. Lin- 
 coln's sister, call her Nancy, some — notably Nicolay and 
 Hay — insisting that she was known by that name among 
 her family and friends. In this they are in error. I have 
 interviewed the different members of the Hanks and Lin- 
 coln families who survived the President, and her name 
 was invariably given as Sarah. The mistake, I think, 
 arises from the fact that, in the Bible record referred to, 
 all that portion relating to the birth of "Sarah, daughter 
 of Thomas and Nancy Lincoln," down to the word Nancy 
 has been torn away, and the latter name has therefore 
 been erroneously taken for that of the daughter. Read- 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 7 
 
 ing the entry of Abraham's birth below satisfies one that 
 it must refer to the mother. 4 
 
 After Mr. Lincoln had attained some prominence in the 
 world, persons who knew both himself and his father were 
 constantly pointing to the want of resemblance between 
 the two. The old gentleman was not only devoid of en- 
 ergy, and shiftless, but dull, and these persons were un- 
 able to account for the source of his son's ambition and his 
 intellectual superiority over other men. Hence the charge 
 so often made in Kentucky that Mr. Lincoln was in 
 reality the offspring of a Hardin or a Marshall, or that 
 he had in his veins the blood of some of the noted fam- 
 ilies who held social and intellectual sway in the western 
 part of the State. These hints were the outgrowth of the 
 campaign of 1860, which was conducted with such unre- 
 lenting prejudice in Kentucky that in the county where 
 Lincoln was born only six persons could be found who 
 had the courage to vote for him. 
 
 Regarding the paternity of Lincoln a great many sur- 
 mises and a still larger amount of unwritten or, at least, 
 unpublished history have drifted into the currents of 
 western lore and journalism. Mr. Weik has spent con- 
 siderable time investigating the truth of a report current 
 in Bourbon County, Kentucky, that Thomas Lincoln, for a 
 consideration from one Abraham Inlow, a miller there, 
 assumed the paternity of the infant child of a poor girl 
 named Nancy Hanks; and, after marriage, removed with 
 her to Washington or Hardin County, where the son, w r ho 
 was named "Abraham, after his real, and Lincoln after 
 his putative father," was born. A prominent citizen in 
 the town of Mount Sterling in that state, who was at one 
 time judge of the court and subsequently editor of a news- 
 paper, and who was descended from the Abraham Inlow 
 mentioned, has written a long argument in support of his 
 alleged kinship through this source to Mr. Lincoln. He 
 emphasizes the striking similarity in stature, facial fea- 
 tures, and length of arms, notwithstanding the well estab- 
 
 4 Original footnote. Throughout this book these two words 
 will mean that the entire paragraph to which they refer was a 
 footnote in the first edition of Herndon's Lincoln. 
 
8 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 lished fact that the first-born child of the real Nancy- 
 Hanks was not a boy but a girl ; and that the marriage did 
 not take place in Bourbon, but in Washington County. 5 
 
 I remember that after his nomination for the Presi- 
 dency Mr. Lincoln received from Kentucky many in- 
 quiries about his family and origin. This curiosity on 
 the part of the people in one who had attained such prom- 
 inence was perfectly natural, but it never pleased him in 
 the least; in fact, to one man who was endeavoring to 
 establish a relationship through the Hanks family he 
 simply answered, "You are mistaken about my mother, ,, 
 without explaining the mistake or making further men- 
 tion of the matter. Samuel Haycraft, the clerk of the 
 court in Hardin County, invited him to visit the scenes of 
 his birth and boyhood, which led him to say this in a letter, 
 June 4, 1860: "You suggest that a visit to the place of 
 my nativity might be pleasant to me. Indeed it would, 
 but would it be safe ? Would not the people lynch me ?" 
 That reports reflecting on his origin and descent should 
 arise in a community in which he felt that his life was 
 unsafe is by no means surprising. Abraham Lincoln, the 
 grandfather of the President, emigrated to Jefferson 
 County, Kentucky, from Virginia about 1780, and from 
 that time forward the former State became an important 
 one in the history of the family, for in it was destined to 
 be born its most illustrious member. About five years 
 before this, a handful of Virginians had started across the 
 mountains for Kentucky, and in the company, besides 
 their historian, William Calk, — whose diary recently came 
 to light, — was one Abraham Hanks. They were evidently 
 a crowd of jolly young men bent on adventure and fun, 
 but their sport was attended with frequent disasters. Their 
 journey began at "Mr. Priges' tavern on the Rapidan." 
 
 5 This paragraph was originally a footnote. The various alleged 
 paternities of Lincoln are briefly but authoritatively treated by 
 J. G. de Roulhac Hamilton in the American Mercury for June, 
 1925, under the title, 'The Many-Sired Lincoln." In a letter to 
 Truman Bartlett, September 25, 1887, Herndon stated his own con- 
 viction : "My own opinion after a sweeping and searching exami- 
 nation — investigation — is that Abm Lincoln was the child and heir 
 of Thomas Lincoln & Nancy Hanks Lincoln/' 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 9 
 
 When only a few days out "Hanks' Dog's leg got broke." 
 Later in the course of the journey, Hanks and another 
 companion became separated from the rest of the party 
 and were lost in the mountains for two days ; in crossing 
 a stream "Abraham's saddle turned over and his load fell 
 in Indian creek;" finally they meet their brethren from 
 whom they have been separated and then pursue their 
 way without further interruption. Returning emigrants 
 whom they meet, according to the journal of Calk, "tell 
 such News of the indians" that certain members of the 
 company are "afrade to go aney further." The following 
 day more or less demoralization takes place among the 
 members of this pioneer party when the announcement is 
 made, as their chronicler so faithfully records it, that 
 "Phillip Drake Bakes bread without washing his hands." 
 This was an unpardonable sin, and at it they revolted. 
 A day later the record shows that "Abram turns Back." 
 Beyond this we shall never know what became of Abra- 
 ham Hanks, for no further mention of him is made in 
 this or any other history. He may have returned to Vir- 
 ginia and become, for aught we know, one of the Presi- 
 dent's ancestors on the maternal side of the house; but 
 if so his illustrious descendant was never able to establish 
 the fact or trace his lineage satisfactorily beyond the first 
 generation which preceded him. He never mentioned who 
 his maternal grandfather was, if indeed he knew. 
 
 [Abraham Hanks, owner of the dog whose leg "got 
 broke," returned to Virginia and served for more than two 
 years in the Revolutionary Army. 6 It does not appear 
 that he was any relative of Lincoln. Intensive research, 
 however, has unearthed considerable information about 
 the President's maternal ancestry. 
 
 Stemming from England, the first representative of the 
 Hanks family, in Lincoln's direct line, to appear in this 
 country was Thomas Hanks, who entered a hundred acres 
 of land in Lancaster County, Virginia, early in 1653. A 
 generation later his descendants moved across the Rappa- 
 hannock to Richmond County, where Lincoln's direct an- 
 
 6 Barton, The Lineage of Lincoln, pp. 316-318. 
 
10 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 cestors remained for more than a hundred years, and 
 where members of the family still reside. Good substan- 
 tial citizens they were, attaining neither fame nor no- 
 toriety, and generally enjoying a reasonable measure of 
 prosperity. 
 
 But Joseph Hanks, great-grandson of the original 
 Thomas and maternal great-grandfather of Abraham Lin- 
 coln, was not quite so fortunate in worldly goods as his 
 immediate forbears. By 1784, when he was fifty-nine years 
 old, he mortgaged his farm in Hampshire County, where 
 he had settled two years earlier, and set out for Ken- 
 tucky. Among the eight children who, with his wife, 
 accompanied him was a daughter named Lucy, the un- 
 married mother of Nancy Hanks who in 1806 became the 
 wife of Thomas Lincoln.] 
 
 His paternal grandfather, Abraham Lincoln, the pioneer 
 from Virginia, met his death within two years 7 after his 
 settlement in Kentucky at the hands of the Indians ; "not 
 in battle," as his distinguished grandson tells us, "but by 
 stealth, when he was laboring to open a farm in the for- 
 est. " The story of his death in sight of his youngest 
 son Thomas, then only six years old, is by no means a 
 new one to the world. In fact I have often heard the 
 President describe the tragedy as he had inherited the 
 story from his father. The dead pioneer had three sons, 
 Mordecai, Josiah and Thomas, in the order named. When 
 the father fell, Mordecai, having hastily sent Josiah to the 
 neighboring fort after assistance, ran into the cabin, and 
 pointing his rifle through a crack between the logs, pre- 
 pared for defense. Presently an Indian came stealing up 
 to the dead father's body. Beside the latter sat the little 
 boy Thomas. Mordecai took deliberate aim at a silver 
 crescent which hung suspended from the Indian's breast, 
 and brought him to the ground. Josiah returned from 
 
 7 Recent research has established the date of Abraham Lin- 
 coln's death as 1786 instead of 1782, which would have been 
 the year had he been killed two years after his arrival in 
 Kentucky. 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN II 
 
 the fort with the desired relief, and the savages were 
 easily dispersed, leaving behind one dead and one wounded. 
 The tragic death of his father filled Mordecai with an 
 intense hatred of the Indians — a feeling from which he 
 never recovered. It was ever with him like an avenging 
 spirit. From Jefferson County he removed to Grayson, 
 where he spent the remainder of his days. A correspond- 
 ent (W. T. Claggett) from there wrote me in 1865 : "Old 
 Mordecai was easily stirred up by the sight of an Indian. 
 One time, hearing of a few Indians passing through the 
 county, he mounted his horse, and taking his rifle on his 
 shoulder, followed on after them and was gone two days. 
 When he returned he said he left one lying in a sink hole. 
 The Indians, he said, had killed his father, and he was 
 determined before he died to have satisfaction. " The 
 youngest boy, Thomas, retained a vivid recollection of his 
 father's death, which, together with other reminiscences 
 of his boyhood, he was fond of relating later in life to his 
 children to relieve the tedium of long winter evenings. 
 Mordecai and Josiah, both remaining in Kentucky, 8 be- 
 came the heads of good-sized families, and although never 
 known or heard of outside the limits of the neighborhoods 
 in which they lived, were intelligent, well-to-do men. An- 
 other correspondent, Henry Pirtle, wrote me in 1865 : "I 
 knew Mordecai and Josiah Lincoln intimately. They were 
 excellent men, plain, moderately educated, candid in their 
 manners and intercourse, and looked upon as honorable 
 as any men I have ever heard of. Mordecai was the old- 
 est son, and his father having been killed by the Indians 
 before the law of primogeniture was repealed, he inher- 
 ited a very competent estate. The others were poor. Mor- 
 decai was celebrated for his bravery, and had been in the 
 early campaigns of the West. ,, 9 
 
 8 In stating that both Mordecai and Josiah Lincoln ended 
 their lives in Kentucky, Herndon was in error. Mordecai died 
 in Hancock County, Illinois, in 1830; Josiah in Harrison County, 
 Indiana, in 1835. 
 
 9 Original footnote. 
 
12 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 In Thomas, roving and shiftless, to whom was "reserved 
 the honor of an illustrious paternity/' are we alone inter- 
 ested. He was, we are told, five feet ten inches high, 
 weighed one hundred and ninety-five pounds, had a well- 
 rounded face, dark hazel eyes, coarse black hair, and was 
 slightly stoop-shouldered. His build was so compact that 
 Dennis Hanks used to say that he could not find the point 
 of separation between his ribs. He was proverbially slow 
 of movement, mentally and physically ; was careless, inert, 
 and dull; was sinewy, and gifted with great strength; was 
 inoffensively quiet and peaceable, but when roused to re- 
 sistance a dangerous antagonist. He had a liking for jokes 
 and stories, which was one of the few traits he transmitted 
 to his illustrious son ; was fond of the chase, and had no 
 marked aversion for the bottle, though in the latter case he 
 indulged no more freely than the average Kentuckian of 
 his day. At the time of his marriage to Nancy Hanks he 
 could neither read nor write; but his wife, who was gifted 
 with more education, and was otherwise his mental su- 
 perior, taught him, it is said, to write his name and to read 
 — at least, he was able in later years to spell his way slowly 
 through the Bible. In his religious belief he first affiliated 
 with the Free-Will Baptists. After his removal to Indiana 
 he changed his adherence to the Presbyterians — or Predes- 
 tinarians, as they were then called — and later united with 
 the Christian — vulgarly called Campbellite — Church, in 
 which latter faith he is supposed to have died. He was 
 a carpenter by trade, and essayed farming too ; but in this, 
 as in almost every other undertaking, he was singularly 
 unsuccessful. He was placed in possession of several tracts 
 of land at different times in his life, but was never able to 
 pay for a single one of them. The farm on which he died 
 was one his son purchased, providing a life estate therein 
 for him and his wife. He never fell in with the routine 
 of labor; was what some people would call unfortunate 
 or unlucky in all his business ventures — if in reality he 
 ever made one — and died near the village of Farmington 
 in Coles County, Illinois, on the 17th day of January, 1851. 
 His son, on account of sickness in his own family, was 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 13 
 
 unable to be present at his father's bedside, or witness 
 his death. To those who notified him of his probable de- 
 mise he wrote : "I sincerely hope that father may yet 
 recover his health ; but at all events tell him to remember 
 to call upon and confide in our great and good and merciful 
 Maker, who will not turn away from him in any extremity. 
 He notes the fall of the sparrow, and numbers the hairs 
 of our heads ; and He will not forget the dying man who 
 puts his trust in Him. Say to him that if we could meet 
 now it is doubtful whether it would not be more painful 
 than pleasant; but that if it be his lot to go now he will 
 soon have a joyous meeting with the many loved ones 
 gone before, and where the rest of us, through the help of 
 God, hope ere long to join them. ,, 
 
 [Herndon's characterization of Thomas Lincoln, based 
 on the recollections of a few old men who had known him, 
 is at variance in general tone and in many particulars with 
 the results of recent research. It is true that he was not 
 a leader in any of the communities in which he lived, but 
 neither was he of the dregs. Sober, industrious — at least 
 during his early manhood — and upright, at several times 
 during his life he owned considerable property. Fre- 
 quently he held minor political offices and served on juries. 
 On several occasions he resorted to the courts to en- 
 force his rights, and generally he was successful. Con- 
 trary to the popular belief, he was able to write his 
 name long before his first marriage. And in the various 
 churches to which he belonged, he was an influential 
 member. 10 ] 
 
 Nancy Hanks, the mother of the President, at a very 
 early age was taken from her mother Lucy — afterwards 
 married to Henry Sparrow — and sent to live with her 
 aunt and uncle, Thomas and Betsy Sparrow. Under this 
 same roof the irrepressible and cheerful waif, Dennis 
 
 10 In his Lincoln's Parentage and Childhood Louis A. Warren 
 makes a strong defense of Thomas Lincoln. Many documents 
 relating to Thomas Lincoln are printed in Barton, The Lineage 
 of Lincoln, appendix. 
 
14 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 Hanks n — whose name will be frequently seen in these 
 pages — also found a shelter. At the time of her marriage 
 to Thomas Lincoln, Nancy was in her twenty-third year. 
 She was above the ordinary height in stature, weighed 
 about 130 pounds, was slenderly built, and had much the 
 appearance of one inclined to consumption. Her skin was 
 dark ; hair dark brown ; eyes gray and small ; forehead 
 prominent; face sharp and angular, with a marked ex- 
 pression of melancholy which fixed itself in the memory 
 of everyone who ever saw or knew her. Though her life 
 was seemingly beclouded by a spirit of sadness, she was 
 in disposition amiable and generally cheerful. Mr. Lin- 
 coln himself said to me in 1851, on receiving the news of 
 his father's death, that whatever might be said of his par- 
 ents, and however unpromising the early surroundings of 
 his mother may have been, she was highly intellectual by 
 nature, had a strong memory, acute judgment, and was 
 cool and heroic. From a mental standpoint she no doubt 
 rose above her surroundings, and had she lived, the stimu- 
 lus of her nature would have accelerated her son's suc- 
 cess, and she would have been a much more ambitious 
 prompter than his father ever was. 
 
 As a family the Hankses were peculiar to the civilization 
 of early Kentucky. Illiterate and superstitious, they cor- 
 responded to that nomandic class still to be met with 
 throughout the South, and known as "poor whites." They 
 are happily and vividly depicted in the description of a 
 camp-meeting held at Elizabethtown, Kentucky, in 1806, 
 which was furnished me in August, 1865, by an eye-witness 
 (J. B. Helm). "The Hanks girls," narrates the latter, 
 "were great at camp-meetings. I remember one in 1806. 
 I will give you a scene, and if you will then read the books 
 written on the subject you may find some apology for the 
 
 11 In the original edition this note occurs : "Dennis Hanks, 
 still living at the age of ninety years in Illinois, was the son 
 of another Nancy Hanks — the aunt of the President's mother. 
 I have his written statement that he came into the world through 
 nature's back-door. He never stated, if he knew it, who his 
 father was." Dennis Hanks was the natural son of Charles 
 Friend. 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 1 5 
 
 superstition that was said to be in Abe Lincoln's character. 
 It was at a camp-meeting, as before said, when a general 
 shout was about to commence. Preparations were being 
 made ; a young lady invited me to stand on a bench by her 
 side where we could see all over the altar. To the right 
 a strong, athletic young man, about twenty-five years old, 
 was being put in trim for the occasion, which was done by 
 divesting him of all apparel except shirt and pants. On 
 the left a young lady was being put in trim in much the 
 same manner, so that her clothes would not be in the way, 
 and so that, when her combs flew out, her hair would go 
 into graceful braids. She, too, was young — not more than 
 twenty perhaps. The performance commenced about the 
 same time by the young man on the right and the young 
 lady on the left. Slowly and gracefully they worked their 
 way towards the centre, singing, shouting, hugging and 
 kissing, generally their own sex, until at last nearer and 
 nearer they came. The centre of the altar was reached, 
 and the two closed, with their arms around each other, 
 the man singing and shouting at the top of his voice. 
 
 " 'I have my Jesus in my arms 
 
 Sweet as honey, strong as bacon ham/ 
 
 "Just at this moment the young lady holding to my arm 
 whispered. 'They are to be married next week; her name 
 is Hanks.' There were very few who did not believe this 
 true religion, inspired by the Holy Spirit, and the man 
 who could not believe it, did well to keep it to himself. 
 The Hankses were the finest singers and shouters in our 
 country." 
 
 Here my informant stops, and on account of his death 
 several years ago I failed to learn whether the young lady 
 shouter who figured in the foregoing scene was the Presi- 
 dent's mother or not. 12 The fact that Nancy Hanks did 
 
 12 Dr. William E. Barton, Lineage, p. 239, points out that 
 Herndon made an error of ten years in the date of this camp- 
 meeting. Actually it took place in 1816 — ten years after the 
 Lincolns were married — rather than in 1806. Consequently the 
 young people Helm described could not have been Thomas Lin- 
 coln and Nancy Hanks. 
 
l6 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 marry that year gives color to the belief that it was she 
 As to the probability of the young man being Thomas 
 Lincoln it is difficult to say; such a performance as the 
 one described must have required a little more emotion 
 and enthusiasm than the tardy and inert carpenter was in 
 the habit of manifesting. 
 
HAPTER TWO 
 
 SARAH, THE SISTER OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, THOUGH IN 
 
 some respects like her brother, lacked his stature. She 
 was thick-set, had his dark-brown hair, deep-gray eyes, 
 and an even disposition. In contact with others she was 
 kind and considerate. Her nature was one of amiability, 
 and God had endowed her with that invincible combination 
 — modesty and good sense. Strange to say, Mr. Lincoln 
 never said much about his sister in after years, and we are 
 really indebted to the Hankses — Dennis and John — for the 
 little we have learned about this rather unfortunate young 
 woman. She was married to 'Aaron Grigsby, in Spencer 
 County, Indiana, in the month of August, 1826, and died 
 January 20, 1828. Her brother accompanied her to school 
 while they lived in Kentucky, but as he was only seven, 
 and as she had not yet finished her ninth year when their 
 father removed with them to Indiana, it is to be presumed 
 that neither made much progress in the matter of school 
 education. Still it is authoritatively stated that they at- 
 tended two schools during this short period. One of these 
 was kept by Zachariah Riney, the other by Caleb Hazel. 
 It is difficult at this late date to learn much of the boy 
 Abraham's life during those seven years of residence in 
 Kentucky. One man (John B. Helm) who was a clerk 
 in the principal store in the village where the Lincolns 
 purchased their family supplies, remembers him as "a 
 small boy who came sometimes to the store with his mother. 
 He would take his seat on a keg of nails, and I would 
 give him a lump of sugar. He would sit there and eat 
 it like any other boy; but these little acts of kindness/' 
 observes my informant, in an enthusiastic statement made 
 
l8 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 in 1865, "so impressed his mind that I made a steadfast 
 friend in a man whose power and influence have since been 
 felt throughout the world. " 1 Samuel Haycraft, a school- 
 mate of Lincoln's at Hazel's school, speaking of the master, 
 says : "He perhaps could teach spelling and reading and 
 indifferent writing, and possibly could cipher to the rule 
 of three; but he had no other qualification of a teacher, 
 unless we accept large size and bodily strength. Abe was 
 a mere spindle of a boy, had his due proportion of harmless 
 mischief, but as we lived in a country abounding in hazel 
 switches, in the virtue of which the master had great faith, 
 Abe of course received his due allowance." 
 
 This part of the boy's history is painfully vague and 
 dim, and even after arriving at man's estate Mr. Lincoln 
 was significantly reserved when reference was made to it. 
 It is barely mentioned in the autobiography furnished to 
 Fell in 1859. John Duncan, afterwards a preacher of 
 some prominence in Kentucky, relates how he and Abe on 
 one occasion ran a ground-hog into a crevice between two 
 rocks, and after working vainly almost two hours to get 
 him out, "Abe ran off about a quarter of a mile to a black- 
 smith shop, and returned with an iron hook fastened to the 
 end of a pole," and with this contrivance they virtually 
 "hooked" the animal out of his retreat. Austin Gollaher 
 of Hodgensville, claims to have saved Lincoln from drown- 
 ing one day as they were trying to "coon it" across Knob 
 Creek on a log. The boys were in pursuit of birds, when 
 young Lincoln fell into the water, and his vigilant com- 
 panion, who still survives to narrate the thrilling story, 
 fished him out with a sycamore branch. 
 
 Meanwhile Thomas Lincoln was becoming daily more 
 dissatisfied with his situation and surroundings. He had 
 purchased, since his marriage, on the easy terms then prev- 
 alent, two farms, or tracts of land in succession ; but none 
 was easy enough for him, and the land, when the time for 
 
 1 Louis A. Warren thinks that Helm's recollection was con- 
 fused, and that John D. Johnston, rather than Lincoln, was the 
 boy who visited the store. Lincoln's Parentage and Childhood, 
 pp. 152-154. 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 19 
 
 the payment of the purchase-money rolled around, reverted 
 to its former owner. 
 
 [Herndon's account of Thomas Lincoln's land-holdings in 
 Kentucky is considerably at fault. Within a year after tak- 
 ing up his residence in Hardin County he purchased a farm 
 of two hundred and thirty-eight acres on Mill Creek, pay- 
 ing one hundred and eighteen pounds for it. Soon after 
 his marriage three years later he bought a lot in Elizabeth- 
 town, the county seat. Here his daughter Sarah was born. 
 The following year he purchased a three-hundred-acre 
 tract on the South Fork of Nolin Creek, though he still 
 owned the Mill Creek farm. 
 
 It was on the second purchase, generally known as the 
 Sinking Spring farm, that Abraham Lincoln was born. Of 
 the circumstances of that birth nothing definite is known. 
 We may assume, however, that the surroundings were no 
 meaner than those to be found in thousands of other fron- 
 tier cabins ; and probably,, in view of what is known of 
 Thomas Lincoln at this time, that they were better than 
 many. 
 
 For six years the Lincolns lived on the farm where Ab- 
 raham was born. Then, his title being involved in litiga- 
 tion, Thomas Lincoln purchased two hundred and thirty 
 acres on Knob Creek, some ten miles distant, probably 
 with money received from the sale of the Mill Creek farm 
 during the preceding year. There he lived during the re- 
 mainder of his residence in Kentucky.] 
 
 Kentucky, at that day, afforded few if any privileges, 
 and possessed fewer advantages to allure the poor man; 
 and no doubt so it seemed to Thomas Lincoln. The land 
 he occupied was sterile and broken. A mere barren glade, 
 and destitute of timber, it required a persistent effort to 
 coax a living out of it; and to one of his easy-going 
 disposition, life there was a never-ending struggle. Stories 
 of vast stretches of rich and unoccupied land in Indiana 
 reaching his ears, and despairing of the prospect of any 
 betterment in his condition so long as he remained in Ken- 
 tucky, he resolved, at last, to leave the State and seek a 
 more inviting lodgement beyond the Ohio. The assertion 
 
20 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 made by some of Mr. Lincoln's biographers, and so often 
 repeated by sentimental writers, that his father left Ken- 
 tucky to avoid the sight of or contact with slavery, lacks 
 confirmation. In all Hardin County — at that time a large 
 area of territory — there were not over fifty slaves ; and it is 
 doubtful if he saw enough of slavery to fill him with the 
 righteous opposition to the institution with which he has 
 so frequently been credited. Moreover, he never in later 
 years manifested any especial aversion to it. 
 
 Having determined on emigrating to Indiana, he began 
 preparations for removal in the fall of 1816 by building 
 for his use a flatboat. Loading it with his tools and other 
 personal effects, including in the invoice, as we are told, 
 four hundred gallons of whiskey, he launched his "crazy 
 craft" on a tributary of Salt Creek known as the Rolling 
 Fork. Along with the current he floated down to the Ohio 
 River, but his rudely-made vessel, either from the want of 
 experience in the navigator, or because of its ill adaptation 
 to withstand the force and caprices of the currents in the 
 great river, capsized one day, and boat and cargo went to 
 the bottom. The luckless boatman set to work however, 
 and by dint of great patience and labor succeeded in 
 recovering the tools and the bulk of the whiskey. Right- 
 ing his boat, he continued down the river, landing at a point 
 called Tompson's Ferry, in Perry County, on the Indiana 
 side. Here he disposed of his vessel, and placing his 
 goods in the care of a settler named Posey, he struck out 
 through the interior in search of a location for his new 
 home. Sixteen miles back from the river he found one 
 that pleased his fancy, and he marked it off for himself. 
 His next move in the order of business was a journey to 
 Vincennes to purchase the tract at the Land Office 2 — under 
 the "two-dollar-an-acre law," as Dennis Hanks puts it — 
 and a return to the land to identify it by blazing the trees 
 and piling up brush on the corners to establish the proper 
 boundary lines. Having secured a place for his home he 
 
 2 Not until October 15, 1817, after he had squatted on the 
 land almost a year, did Thomas Lincoln make the formal entry 
 at Vincennes. Beveridge, Abraham Lincoln, I., p. 47. 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 21 
 
 trudged back to Kentucky — walking all the way — for his 
 family. Two horses brought them and all their effects to 
 the Indiana shore. Posey kindly gave or hired them the 
 use of a wagon, into which they packed not only their 
 furniture and carpenter tools, but the liquor, which it is 
 presumed had lain undisturbed in the former's cellar. 
 Slowly and carefully picking their way through the dense 
 woods, they at last reached their destination on the banks 
 of Little Pigeon Creek. There were some detentions on 
 the way, but no serious mishaps. 
 
 The head of the household now set resolutely to work 
 to build a shelter for his family. 
 
 The structure, when completed, was fourteen feet square, 
 and was built of small unhewn logs. In the language of 
 the day, it was called a "half-faced camp/' being enclosed 
 on all sides but one. It had neither floor, door, nor win- 
 dows. In this forbidding hovel these doughty emigrants 
 braved the exposure of the varying elements for an entire 
 year. At the end of that time Thomas and Betsy Sparrow 
 followed, bringing with them Dennis Hanks ; and to them 
 Thomas Lincoln surrendered the "half-faced camp," while 
 he moved into a more pretentious structure — a cabin en- 
 closed on all sides. The country was thickly covered with 
 forests of walnut, beech, oak, elm, maple, and an under- 
 growth of dog-wood, sumac, and wild grapevine. In places 
 where the growth was not so thick grass came up abun- 
 dantly, and hogs found plenty of food in the unlimited 
 quantity of mast the woods afforded. The country 
 abounded in bear, deer, turkey, and other wild game, 
 which not only satisfied the pioneer's love for sport, but 
 furnished his table with its supply of meat. 
 
 ["It was a wild region, with many bears and other wild 
 animals still in the woods/' wrote Lincoln in the Fell auto- 
 biography. More details are found in the sketch he fur- 
 nished John L. Scripps. "He (Thomas Lincoln) settled 
 in an unbroken forest, and the clearing away of surplus 
 wood was the great task ahead. Abraham, though very 
 young, was large of his age, and had an ax put into his 
 hands at once ; and from that till within his twenty-third 
 
22 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 year he was almost constantly handling that most useful 
 instrument — less, of course, in plowing and harvesting 
 seasons.''] 
 
 Thomas Lincoln, with the aid of the Hankses and Spar- 
 rows, was for a time an attentive farmer. The implements 
 of agriculture then in use were as rude as they were rare, 
 and yet there is nothing to show that in spite of the slow 
 methods then in vogue he did not make commendable 
 speed. "We raised corn mostly" — relates Dennis — "and 
 some wheat — enough for a cake Sunday morning. Hog 
 and venison hams were a legal tender, and coon skins also. 
 We raised sheep and cattle, but they did not bring much. 
 Cows and calves were only worth six to eight dollars ; corn 
 ten cents, and wheat twenty-five cents, a bushel." So with 
 all his application and frugality the head of this ill-assorted 
 household made but little headway in the accumulation of 
 the world's goods. We are told that he was indeed a poor 
 man, and that during his entire stay in Indiana his land 
 barely yielded him sufficient return to keep his larder sup- 
 plied with the most common necessities of life. His skill 
 as a hunter — though never brought into play unless at the 
 angered demand of a stomach hungry for meat — in no 
 slight degree made up for the lack of good management in 
 the cultivation of his land. His son Abraham never 
 evinced the same fondness for hunting, although his cousin 
 Dennis with much pride tells how he could kill a wild 
 turkey on the wing. "At that time," relates one of the 
 latter 's playmates (David Turnham), descanting on the 
 abundance of wild game, "there were a great many deer- 
 licks; and Abe and myself would go to these licks and 
 watch of nights to kill deer, though Abe was not so fond 
 of a gun or the sport as I was." 
 
 [Lincoln himself left an account of the wild turkey epi- 
 sode which so impressed Dennis Hanks. "Abraham took 
 an early start as a hunter," he wrote, "which was never 
 much improved afterward. A few days before the com- 
 pletion of his eighth year, in the absence of his father, a 
 flock of wild turkeys approached the new log cabin, and 
 Abraham with a rifle-gun, standing inside, shot through a 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 23 
 
 crack and killed one of them. He has never since pulled 
 a trigger on any larger game."] 
 
 Mr. Lincoln used to relate the following "coon" story : 
 His father had at home a little yellow housedog, which 
 invariably gave the alarm if the boys undertook to slip 
 away unobserved after night had set in — as they often- 
 times did — to go coon hunting. One evening Abe and his 
 stepbrother, John Johnston, with the usual complement of 
 boys required in a successful coon hunt, took the insigni- 
 ficant little cur with them. They located the coveted coon, 
 killed him, and then in sportive vein sewed the hide on the 
 diminutive yellow dog. The latter struggled vigorously 
 during the operation of sewing on, and being released 
 from the hands of his captors made a bee-line for home. 
 Other large and more important canines, on the way, 
 scenting coon, tracked the little animal home, and possibly 
 mistaking him for real coon, speedily demolished him. 
 The next morning old Thomas discovered lying in his yard 
 the lifeless remains of yellow "Joe," with strong proof 
 of coon-skin accompaniment. "Father was much incensed 
 at his death," observed Mr. Lincoln, in relating the story, 
 "but as John and I, scantily protected from the morning 
 wind, stood shivering in the doorway, we felt assured 
 little yellow Joe would never be able again to sound the 
 call for another coon hunt." s 
 
 The cabin to which the Lincoln family removed after 
 leaving the little half -faced camp to the Sparrows was in 
 some respects a pretentious structure. It was of hewed 
 logs, and was eighteen feet square. It was high enough 
 to admit of a loft, where Abe slept, and to which he as- 
 cended each night by means of pegs driven in the wall. 
 The rude furniture was in keeping with the surroundings. 
 Three-legged stools answered for chairs. The bedstead, 
 made of poles fastened in the cracks on one side, and 
 supported by a crotched stick driven in the ground on the 
 other, was covered with skins, leaves, and old clothes. A 
 table of the same finish as the stools, a few pewter dishes, 
 a Dutch oven, and a skillet completed the household out- 
 
 9 Original footnote. 
 
24 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 fit. In this uninviting frontier structure the future Pres- 
 ident was destined to pass the greater part of his boyhood. 
 Withal his spirits were light, and it cannot be denied 
 that he must have enjoyed unrestrained pleasure in his 
 surroundings. It is related that one day the only thing 
 that graced the dinner-table was a dish of roasted pota- 
 toes. The elder Lincoln, true to the custom of the day, 
 returned thanks for the blessing. The boy, realizing the 
 scant proportions of the meal, looked up into his father's 
 face and irreverently observed, "Dad, I call these" — 
 meaning the potatoes — "mighty poor blessings." Among 
 other children of a similar age he seemed unconsciously 
 to take the lead, and it is no stretch of the truth to say 
 that they, in turn, looked up to him. He may have been 
 a little precocious — children sometimes are — but in view of 
 the summary treatment received at the hands of his father 
 it cannot truthfully be said he was a "spoiled child." One 
 morning when his mother was at work he ran into the 
 cabin from the outside to inquire, with a quizzical grin, 
 "Who was the father of Zebedee's children?" As many 
 another mother before and since has done, she brushed 
 the mischievous young inquirer aside to attend to some 
 more important detail of household concern. 
 
 Dennis Hanks testifies to the discipline which prevailed 
 in the Lincoln household. "Abe was a good boy — an af- 
 fectionate one — a boy who loved his parents well and was 
 obedient to their every wish. Although anything but an 
 impudent or rude boy he was sometimes uncomfortably 
 inquisitive. When strangers would ride along or pass 
 by his father's fence he always — either through boyish 
 pride or to tease his father — would be sure to ask the first 
 question. His father would sometimes knock him over. 
 When thus punished he never bellowed, but dropped a 
 kind of silent, unwelcome tear as evidence of his sensi- 
 tiveness or other feelings." 4 
 
 The dull routine of chores and household errands in 
 the boy's every-day life was brightened now and then by 
 
 * This quotation, originally a footnote, Herndon took from 
 a statement of Dennis Hanks dated June 13, 1865. 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 25 
 
 a visit to the mill. I often in later years heard Mr. Lin- 
 coln say that going to the mill gave him the greatest pleas- 
 ure of his boyhood days. 
 
 "We had to go seven miles to mill," relates David Turn- 
 ham, the friend of his youth, "and then it was a hand- 
 mill that would only grind from fifteen to twenty bushels 
 of corn in a day. There was but little wheat grown at 
 that time, and when we did have wheat we had to grind 
 it in the mill described and use it without bolting, as there 
 were no bolts in the country. Abe and I had to do the 
 milling, frequently going twice to get one grist." 
 
 In his eleventh year he began that marvelous and rapid 
 growth in stature for which he was so widely noted in the 
 Pigeon Creek settlement. "As he shot up," says Turnham, 
 "he seemed to change in appearance and action. Although 
 quick-witted and ready with an answer, he began to ex- 
 hibit deep thoughtfulness, and was so often lost in studied 
 reflection we could not help noticing the strange turn in 
 his actions. He disclosed rare timidity and sensitiveness, 
 especially in the presence of men and women, and although 
 cheerful enough in the presence of the boys, he did not 
 appear to seek our company as earnestly as before." It 
 was only the development we find in the history of every 
 boy. Nature was a little abrupt in the case of Abraham 
 Lincoln ; she tossed him from the nimbleness of boyhood 
 to the gravity of manhood in a single night. 
 
 In the fall of 1818, the scantily settled region in the 
 vicinity of Pigeon Creek — where the Lincolns were then 
 living — suffered a visitation of that dread disease common 
 in the West in early days, and known in the vernacular 
 of the frontier as "the milk-sick." It hovered like a 
 spectre over the Pigeon Creek settlement for over ten 
 years, and its fatal visitation and inroads among the Lin- 
 colns, Hankses, and Sparrows finally drove that contin- 
 gent into Illinois. To this day the medical profession has 
 never agreed upon any definite cause for the malady, nor 
 have they in all their scientific wrangling determined 
 exactly what the disease itself is. A physician, who has in 
 his practice met a number of cases, describes the symp- 
 
26 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 toms to be "a whitish coat on the tongue, burning sensa- 
 tion of the stomach, severe vomiting, obstinate constipation 
 of the bowels, coolness of the extremities, great restless- 
 ness and jactitation, pulse rather small, somewhat more 
 frequent than natural, and slightly chorded. In the course 
 of the disease the coat on the tongue becomes brownish 
 and dark, the countenance dejected, and the prostration 
 of the patient is great. A fatal termination may take place 
 in sixty hours, or life may be prolonged for a period of 
 fourteen days. These are the symptoms of the disease in 
 an acute form. Sometimes it runs into the chronic form, 
 or it may assume that form from the commencement, and 
 after months or years the patient may finally die or recover 
 only a partial degree of health." 
 
 When the disease broke out in the Pigeon Creek region 
 it not only took off the people, but it made sad havoc among 
 the cattle. One man testifies that he "lost four milch cows 
 and eleven calves in one week." This, in addition to the 
 risk of losing his own life, was enough, he declared, to 
 ruin him, and prompted him to leave for "points further 
 west." 
 
 Early in October of the year 1818, Thomas and Betsy 
 Sparrow fell ill of the disease and died within a few days 
 of each other. Thomas Lincoln performed the services 
 of undertaker. With his whipsaw he cut out the lumber, 
 and with commendable promptness he nailed together the 
 rude coffins to enclose the forms of the dead. The bodies 
 were borne to a scantily cleared knoll in the midst of the 
 forest, and there, without ceremony, quietly let down into 
 the grave. Meanwhile Abe's mother had also fallen a 
 victim to the insidious disease. Her sufferings, however, 
 were destined to be of brief duration. Within a week 
 she too rested from her labors. "She struggled on, day 
 by day," says one of the household* "a good Christian 
 woman, and died on the seventh day after she was taken 
 sick. Abe and his sister Sarah waited on their mother, and 
 did the little jobs and errands required of them. There 
 was no physician nearer than thirty-five miles. The mother 
 knew she was going to die, and called the children to her 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 2>] 
 
 bedside. She was very weak, and the children leaned 
 over while she gave her last message. Placing her feeble 
 hand on little Abe's head she told him to be kind and good 
 to his father and sister ; to both she said, 'Be good to one 
 another,' expressing a hope that they might live, as they 
 had been taught by her, to love their kindred and worship 
 God." Amid the miserable surroundings of a home in 
 the wilderness Nancy Hanks passed across the dark river. 
 Though of lowly birth, the victim of poverty and hard 
 usage, she takes a place in history as the mother of a son 
 who liberated a race of men. At her side stands another 
 Mother whose son performed a similar service for all 
 mankind eighteen hundred years before. 
 
 After the death of their mother little Abe and his sister 
 Sarah began a dreary life — indeed, one more cheerless and 
 less inviting seldom falls to the lot of any child. In a 
 log-cabin without a floor, scantily protected from the se- 
 verities of the weather, deprived of the comfort of a 
 mother's love, they passed through a winter the most dis- 
 mal either one ever experienced. Within a few months, 
 and before the close of the winter, David Elkin, an itiner- 
 ant preacher whom Mrs. Lincoln had known in Kentucky, 
 happened into the settlement, and in response to the invi- 
 tation from the family and friends, delivered a funeral 
 sermon over her grave. No one is able now to remember 
 the language of Parson Elkin's discourse, but it is recalled 
 that he commemorated the virtues and good phases of 
 character, and passed in silence the few short-comings and 
 frailties of the poor woman sleeping under the winter's 
 snow. She had done her work in this world. Stoop- 
 shouldered, thin-breasted, sad, — at times miserable, — 
 groping through the perplexities of life, without prospect 
 of any betterment in her condition, she passed from 
 earth, little dreaming of the grand future that lay in store 
 for the ragged, hapless little boy who stood at her bedside 
 in the last days of her life. 
 
 Thomas Lincoln's widowerhood was brief. He had 
 scarcely mourned the death of his first wife a year until 
 he reappeared in Kentucky at Elizabethtown in search of 
 
28 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 another. His admiration had centred for a second time 
 on Sally Bush, the widow of Daniel Johnston, the jailer 
 of Hardin County, who had died several years before of 
 a disease known as the "cold plague. " The tradition still 
 kept alive in the Kentucky neighborhood is that Lincoln 
 had been a suitor for the hand of the lady before his 
 marriage to Nancy Hanks, but that she had rejected him 
 for the hand of the more fortunate Johnston. However 
 that may have been, it is certain that he began his campaign 
 in earnest this time, and after a brief siege won her heart. 
 "He made a very short courtship," wrote Samuel Hay- 
 craft to me in a letter, December 7, 1866. "He came to 
 see her on the first day of December, 1819, and in a 
 straightforward manner told her that they had known each 
 other from childhood. 'Miss Johnston/ said he, 'I have no 
 wife and you no husband. I came a-purpose to marry 
 you. I knowed you from a gal and you knowed me from 
 a boy. I've no time to lose; and if you're willin' let it be 
 done straight off.' She replied that she could not marry 
 him right off, as she had some little debts which she wanted 
 to pay first. He replied, 'Give me a list of them/ He got 
 the list and paid them that evening. Next morning I is- 
 sued the license, and they were married within sixty yards 
 of my house/' 
 
 Lincoln's brother-in-law, Ralph Krume, and his four 
 horses and spacious wagon were again brought into requisi- 
 tion. With commendable generosity he transported the 
 newly married pair and their household effects to their 
 home in Indiana. The new Mrs. Lincoln was accom- 
 panied by her three children, John, Sarah, and Matilda. 
 Her social status is fixed by the comparison of a neigh- 
 bor, who observed that "life among the Hankses, the Lin- 
 colns, and the Enlows was a long ways below life among 
 the Bushes." 
 
 In the eyes of her spouse she could not be regarded as 
 a poor widow. She was the owner of a goodly stock of 
 furniture and household goods ; bringing with her among 
 other things a walnut bureau valued at fifty dollars. What 
 effect the new family, their collection of furniture, cooking 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 29 
 
 utensils, and comfortable bedding must have had on the 
 astonished and motherless pair who from the door of 
 Thomas Lincoln's forlorn cabin watched the well-filled 
 wagon as it came creaking through the woods can better 
 be imagined than described. Surely Sarah and Abe, as 
 the stores of supplies were rolled in through the doorless 
 doorways, must have believed that a golden future awaited 
 them. The presence and smile of a motherly face in the 
 cheerless cabin radiated sunshine into every neglected cor- 
 ner. If the Lincoln mansion did not in every respect cor- 
 respond to the representations made by its owner to the 
 new Mrs. Lincoln before marriage, the latter gave no ex- 
 pression of disappointment or even surprise. With true 
 womanly courage and zeal she set resolutely to work to 
 make right that which seemed wrong. Her husband was 
 made to put a floor in the cabin, as well as to supply doors 
 and windows. The cracks between the logs were plas- 
 tered up. A clothes-press filled the space between the 
 chimney jamb and the wall, and the mat of corn husks 
 and leaves on which the children had slept in the corner 
 gave way to the comfortable luxuriance of a feather bed. 
 She washed the two orphans, and fitted them out in clothes 
 taken from the stores of her own. The work of renova- 
 tion in and around the cabin continued until even Thomas 
 Lincoln himself, under the general stimulus of the new 
 wife's presence, caught the inspiration, and developed signs 
 of intense activity. The advent of Sarah Bush was cer- 
 tainly a red-letter day for the Lincolns. She was not only 
 industrious and thrifty, but gentle and affectionate ; and her 
 newly adopted children for the first time, perhaps, realized 
 the benign influence of a mother's love. Of young Abe 
 she was especially fond, and we have her testimony that 
 her kindness and care for him were warmly and bounti- 
 fully returned. Her granddaughter (Harriet Chapman) 
 furnished me in after years with this description of 
 her: 
 
 "My grandmother is a very tall woman, straight as an 
 Indian, of fair complexion, and was, when I first remem- 
 ber her, very handsome, sprightly, talkative, and proud. 
 
30 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 She wore her hair curled till gray; is kind-hearted and 
 very charitable, and also very industrious. " In Septem- 
 ber, 1865, I visited the old lady, and spent an entire day 
 with her. She was then living on the farm her stepson 
 had purchased and given her, eight miles south of the town 
 of Charleston, in Illinois. She died on the 10th of April, 
 1869. 
 
 During my interview with this old lady I was much 
 and deeply impressed with the sincerity of her affection 
 for her illustrious stepson. She declined to say much in 
 answer to my questions about Nancy Hanks, her prede- 
 cessor in the Lincoln household, but spoke feelingly of the 
 latter's daughter and son. Describing Mr. Lincoln's last 
 visit to her in February, 1861, she broke into tears and 
 wept bitterly. "I did not want Abe to run for President/' 
 she sobbed, "and I did not want to see him elected. I was 
 afraid that something would happen to him, and when he 
 came down to see me, after he was elected President, I 
 still felt, and my heart told me, that something would 
 befall Abe, and that I should never see him again. Abe 
 and his father are in heaven now, I am sure, and I expect 
 soon to go there and meet them." 5 
 
 The two sets of children in the Lincoln household — to 
 their credit be it said — lived together in perfect accord. 
 Abe was in his tenth year, and his stepmother, awake to 
 the importance of an education, made a way for him to 
 attend school. To her he seemed full of promise ; and al- 
 though not so quick of comprehension as other boys, yet 
 she believed in encouraging his every effort. He had had 
 a few weeks of schooling under Riney and Hazel in Ken- 
 tucky, but it is hardly probable that he could read; he 
 certainly could not write. As illustrating his moral make- 
 up, I diverge from the chronological order of the narra- 
 tive long enough to relate an incident which occurred 
 some years later. In the Lincoln family, Matilda Johnston, 
 or 'Tilda, as her mother called her, was the youngest child. 
 After Abe had reached the estate of manhood, she was still 
 in her 'teens. It was Abe's habit each morning one fall, 
 
 5 Original footnote. 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 31 
 
 to leave the house early, his axe on his shoulder, to clear 
 a piece of forest which lay some distance from home. He 
 frequently carried his dinner with him, and remained all 
 day. Several times the young and frolicsome 'Tilda sought 
 to accompany him, but was each time restrained by her 
 mother, who firmly forbade a repetition of the attempt. 
 One morning the girl escaped maternal vigilance, and 
 slyly followed after the young woodman, who had gone 
 some distance from the house, and was already hidden from 
 view behind the dense growth of trees and underbrush. 
 Following a deer-path, he went singing along, little dream- 
 ing of the girl in close pursuit. The latter gained on him, 
 and when within a few feet, darted forward and with a cat- 
 like leap landed squarely on his back. With one hand on 
 each shoulder, she planted her knee in the middle of his 
 back, and dexterously brought the powerful frame of the 
 rail-splitter to the ground. It was a trick familiar to 
 every schoolboy. Abe, taken by surprise, was unable at 
 first to turn around or learn who his assailant was. In 
 the fall to the ground, the sharp edge of the axe imbedded 
 itself in the young lady's ankle, inflicting a wound from 
 which there came a generous effusion of blood. With 
 sundry pieces of cloth torn from Abe's shirt and the 
 young lady's dress, the flow of blood was staunched, and 
 the wound rudely bound up. The girl's cries having les- 
 sened somewhat, her tall companion, looking at her in 
 blank astonishment, knowing what an infraction the whole 
 thing was of her mother's oft-repeated instructions, asked : 
 1 'Tilda, what are you going to tell mother about getting 
 hurt?" 
 
 "Tell her I did it with the axe," she sobbed. 'That will 
 be the truth, won't it?" To which last inquiry Abe man- 
 fully responded, 
 
 "Yes, that's the truth, but it's not all the truth. Tell 
 the whole truth, 'Tilda, and trust your good mother for 
 the rest." 
 
 This incident was, many years afterward, related to me 
 by 'Tilda, who was then the mother of a devoted and in- 
 teresting family herself. 
 
32 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 Hazel Dorsey was Abe's first teacher in Indiana. 6 He 
 held forth a mile and a half from the Lincoln farm. The 
 schoolhouse was built of round logs, and was just high 
 enough for a man to stand erect under the loft. The floor 
 was of split logs, or what were called puncheons. The 
 chimney was made of poles and clay; and the windows 
 were made by cutting out parts of two logs, placing pieces 
 of split boards a proper distance apart, and over the aper- 
 ture thus formed pasting pieces of greased paper to ad- 
 mit light. At school Abe evinced ability enough to gain 
 him a prominent place in the respect of the teacher 
 and the affections of his fellow-scholars. "He always 
 appeared to be very quiet during playtime;" E. R. 
 Burba wrote in 1886, "never was rude; seemed to have 
 a liking for solitude; was the one chosen in almost 
 every case to adjust difficulties between boys of his age 
 and size, and when appealed to, his decision was an end 
 of the trouble. He was also rather noted for keeping 
 his clothes clean longer than any of the others, and al- 
 though considered a boy of courage, had few, if any, dif- 
 ficulties." 7 Elements of leadership in him seem to have 
 manifested themselves already. Nathaniel Grigsby — 
 whose brother, Aaron, afterwards married Abe's sister, 
 Sarah — attended the same school. He certifies to Abe's 
 proficiency and worth in glowing terms. 
 
 "He was always at school early," writes Grigsby, "and 
 attended to his studies. He was always at the head of his 
 class, and passed us rapidly in his studies. He lost no time 
 at home, and when he was not at work was at his books. 
 He kept up his studies on Sunday, and carried his books 
 with him to Avork, so that he might read when he rested 
 from labor." Now and then, the family exchequer running 
 low, it would be found necessary for the young rail-splitter 
 to stop school, and either work with his father on the farm, 
 or render like service for the neighbors. These periods 
 of work occurred so often and continued so long, that all 
 his school days added together would not make a year in 
 
 6 Please see Lincoln's own statement on p. 34. 
 
 7 Herndon used Burba's statement as a footnote. 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 33 
 
 the aggregate. When he attended school, his sister Sarah 
 usually accompanied him. "Sally was a quick-minded 
 young woman/' is the testimony of a schoolmate. "She 
 was more industrious than Abe, in my opinion. I can hear 
 her good-humored laugh now. Like her brother, she 
 could greet you kindly and put you at ease. She was really 
 an intelligent woman." 
 
 Abe's love for books, and his determined effort to ob- 
 tain an education in spite of so many obstacles, induced 
 the belief in his father's mind, that book-learning was ab- 
 sorbing a greater proportion of his energy and industry 
 than the demands of the farm. The old gentleman had 
 but little faith in the value of books or papers, and hence 
 the frequent drafts he made on the son to aid in the drudg- 
 ery of daily toil. He undertook to teach him his own 
 trade — he was a carpenter and joiner — but Abe manifested 
 such a striking want of interest that the effort to make a 
 carpenter out of him was soon abandoned. 
 
 "I induced my husband to permit Abe to read and study 
 at home as well as at school," said Sarah Bush Lincoln 
 in 1865. "At first he was not easily reconciled to it, but 
 finally he too seemed willing to encourage him to a certain 
 extent. Abe was a dutiful son to me always, and we took 
 particular care when he was reading not to disturb him — 
 would let him read on and on till he quit of his own ac- 
 cord." 8 
 
 At Dorsey's school Abe was ten years old ; at the next 
 one, Andrew Crawford's, he was about fourteen; and at 
 Swaney's he was in his seventeenth year. The last school 
 required a walk of over four miles, and on account of the 
 distance his attendance was not only irregular but brief. 
 Schoolmaster Crawford introduced a new feature in his 
 school, and we can imagine its effect on his pupils, whose 
 training had been limited to the social requirements of the 
 backwoods settlement. It was instruction in manners. One 
 scholar was required to go outside, and reenter the room 
 as a lady or gentleman would enter a drawing-room or 
 parlor. Another scholar would receive the first party at 
 
 8 Original footnote. 
 
34 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 the door, and escort him or her about the room, making 
 polite introductions to each person in the room. How the 
 gaunt and clumsy Abe went through this performance we 
 shall probably never know. If his awkward movements 
 gave rise to any amusement, his schoolmates never re- 
 vealed it. 
 
 The books used at school were Webster's Spelling Book 
 and the American speller. All the scholars learned to 
 cipher, and afterwards used Pike's Arithmetic. Mr. Lin- 
 coln told me in later years that Murray's English Reader 
 was the best schoolbook ever put into the hands of an 
 American youth. I conclude, therefore, he must have 
 used that also. At Crawford's school Abe was credited 
 with the authorship of several literary efforts — short dis- 
 sertations in which he strove to correct some time- 
 honored and wanton sport of the schoolboy. While in 
 Indiana I met several persons who recalled a commend- 
 able and somewhat pretentious protest he wrote against 
 cruelty to animals. The wholesome effects of a temper- 
 ate life and the horrors of war were also subjects which 
 claimed the services of his pen then, as they in later years 
 demanded the devoted attention of his mind and heart. 
 
 [Recalling his school days, Lincoln said that he "went 
 to A B C schools by littles, kept successively by Andrew 
 Crawford, — Sweeney, and Azel W. Dorsey. He does not 
 remember any other. . . . Abraham now thinks that the 
 aggregate of all his schooling did not amount to one 
 year." At another time he wrote of his youth in In- 
 diana : "There were some schools, so called, but no quali- 
 fication was ever required of a teacher beyond 'readin', 
 writin', and cipherin' to the rule of three/ If a straggler 
 supposed to understand Latin happened to sojourn in the 
 neighborhood, he was looked upon as a wizard. There 
 was absolutely nothing to excite ambition for education. 
 Of course, when I came of age I did not know much. 
 Still, somehow, I could read, write, and cipher to the rule 
 of three, but that was all."] 
 
 He was now over six feet high and was growing at a 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 35 
 
 tremendous rate, for he added two inches more before the 
 close of his seventeenth year, thus reaching the limit of his 
 stature. He weighed in the region of a hundred and sixty 
 pounds ; was wiry, vigorous, and strong. His feet and 
 hands were large, arms and legs long and in striking con- 
 trast with his slender trunk and small head. "His skin 
 was shriveled and yellow/' declares Kate Gentry, one of 
 the girls who attended Crawford's school. "His shoes, 
 when he had any, were low. He wore buckskin breeches, 
 linsey-woolsey shirt, and a cap made of the skin of a 
 squirrel or coon. His breeches were baggy and lacked by 
 several inches meeting the tops of his shoes, thereby ex- 
 posing his shin-bone, 'sharp, blue, and narrow/ In one 
 branch of school learning he was a great success ; that was 
 spelling. We are indebted to Kate Roby, a pretty miss of 
 fifteen, for an incident which illustrates alike his pro- 
 ficiency in orthography and his natural inclination to help 
 another out of the mire. The word "defied" had been 
 given out by Schoolmaster Crawford, but had been mis- 
 spelled several times when it came Miss Roby's turn. 
 "Abe stood on the opposite side of the room" (related 
 Miss Roby to me in 1865) "and was watching me. I 
 began d-e-f — and then I stopped, hesitating whether to 
 proceed with an T or a 'y\ Looking up I beheld Abe, a 
 grin covering his face, and pointing with his index finger 
 to his eye. I took the hint, spelled the word with an %' 
 and it went through all right." There was more or less 
 of an attachment between Miss Roby and Abe, although 
 the lady took pains to assure me that they were never in 
 love. She described with self-evident pleasure, however, 
 the delightful experience of an evening's stroll down to 
 the river with him, where they were wont to sit on the 
 bank and watch the moon as it slowly rose over the neigh- 
 boring hills. Dangling their youthful feet in the water, 
 they gazed on the pale orb of night, as many a fond pair 
 before them had done and will continue to do until the 
 end of the world. One evening, when thus engaged, their 
 conversation and thoughts turned on the movement of 
 
36 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 the planets. "I did not suppose that Abe, who had seen 
 so little of the world, would know anything about it, 
 but he proved to my satisfaction that the moon did not 
 go down at all; that it only seemed to; that the earth, 
 revolving from west to east, carried us under, as it 
 were. 'We do the sinking/ he explained ; 'while to us 
 the moon is comparatively still. The moon's sinking is 
 only an illusion.' I at once dubbed him a fool, but later 
 developments convinced me that I was the fool, not he. 
 He was well acquainted with the general laws of astron- 
 omy and the movements of the heavenly bodies, but where 
 he could have learned so much, or how to put it so> plainly, 
 I never could understand." 
 
 Absalom Roby is authority for the statement that even 
 at that early day Abe was a patient reader of a Louisville 
 newspaper, which some one at Gentryville kindly fur- 
 nished him. Among the books he read were the Bible, 
 Msop's Fables, Robinson Crusoe, Bunyan's Pilgrim's 
 Progress, a History of the United States, and Weems' 
 Life of Washington. A little circumstance attended the 
 reading of the last-named book, which only within recent 
 years found its way into public print. The book was 
 borrowed from a close-fisted neighbor, Josiah Craw- 
 ford, and one night, while lying on a little shelf near 
 a crack between two logs in the Lincoln cabin during a 
 storm, the covers were damaged by rain. Crawford — 
 not the schoolmaster, but old Blue Nose, as Abe and oth- 
 ers called him — assessed the damage to his book at seventy- 
 five cents, and the unfortunate borrower was required to 
 pull fodder for three days at twenty-five cents a day in set- 
 tlement of the account. While at school it is doubtful if 
 he was able to own an arithmetic. His stepmother was 
 unable to remember his ever having owned one. She 
 gave me, however, a few leaves from a book made and 
 bound by Abe, in which he had entered, in a large, bold 
 hand, the tables of weights and measures, and the "sums" 
 to be worked out in illustration of each table. Where the 
 arithmetic was obtained I could not learn. On one of 
 the pages which the old lady gave me, and just underneath 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 37 
 
 the table which tells how many pints there are in a bushel, 
 the facetious young student had scrawled these four lines 
 of schoolboy doggerel : 
 
 ''Abraham Lincoln, 
 His hand and pen, 
 He will be good, 
 
 But God knows when." 
 
 On another page were found, in his own hand, a few 
 lines which it is also said he composed. Nothing indicates 
 that they were borrowed, and I have always, therefore, 
 believed that they were original with him. Although a 
 little irregular in metre, the sentiment would, I think, do 
 credit to an older head. 
 
 "Time, what an empty vapor 'tis, 
 
 And days how swift they are: 
 Swift as an Indian arrow — 
 
 Fly on like a shooting star. 
 The present moment just is here, 
 
 Then slides away in haste, 
 That we can never say they're ours, 
 
 But only say they're past." 
 
 His penmanship, after some practice, became so regular 
 in form that it excited the admiration of other and younger 
 boys. One of the latter Joseph C. Richardson, said that 
 "Abe Lincoln was the best penman in the neighborhood. " 
 At Richardson's request he made some copies for practice. 
 During my visit to Indiana I met Richardson, who showed 
 these two lines, which Abe had prepared for him : 
 
 "Good boys who to their books apply 
 Will all be great men by and by." 
 
 To comprehend Mr. Lincoln fully we must know in sub- 
 stance not only the facts of his origin, but also the manner 
 of his development. It will always be a matter of wonder 
 to the American people, I have no doubt — as it has been 
 to me — that from such restricted and unpromising oppor- 
 tunities in early life, Mr. Lincoln grew into the great 
 man he was. The foundation for his education was laid in 
 
38 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 Indiana and in the little town of New Salem in Illinois, 
 and in both places he gave evidence of a nature and char- 
 acteristics that distiguished him from every associate and 
 surrounding he had. He was not peculiar or eccentric, and 
 yet a shrewd observer would have seen that he was de- 
 cidedly unique and original. Although imbued with a 
 marked dislike for manual labor, it cannot be truthfully 
 said of him that he was indolent. From a mental stand- 
 point he was one of the most energetic young men of his 
 day. He dwelt altogether in the land of thought. His 
 deep meditation and abstraction easily induced the belief 
 among his horny-handed companions that he was lazy. In 
 fact, a neighbor, John Romine, makes that charge. "He 
 worked for me," testifies the latter, "but was always read- 
 ing and thinking. I used to get mad at him for it. I say 
 he was awful lazy. He would laugh and talk — crack his 
 jokes and tell stories all the time ; didn't love work half as 
 much as his pay. He said to me one day that his father 
 taught him to work; but he never taught him to love it." 
 Verily there was but one Abraham Lincoln ! 
 
 His chief delight during the day, if unmolested, was to 
 lie down under the shade of some inviting tree to read and 
 study. At night, lying on his stomach in front of the open 
 fireplace, with a piece of charcoal he would cipher on a 
 broad, wooden shovel. When the latter was covered on 
 both sides he would take his father's drawing knife or 
 plane and shave it off clean, ready for a fresh supply of 
 inscriptions the next day. He often moved about the 
 cabin with a piece of chalk, writing and ciphering on 
 boards and the flat sides of hewn logs. When every bare 
 wooden surface had been filled with his letters and ciphers 
 he would erase them and begin anew. Thus it was always ; 
 and the boy whom dull old Thomas Lincoln and rustic John 
 Romine conceived to be lazy was in reality the most tire- 
 less worker in all the region around Gentryville. His step- 
 mother told me he devoured everything in the book line 
 within his reach. If in his reading he came across anything 
 that pleased his fancy, he entered it down in a copy-book — 
 a sort of repository, in which he was wont to store every- 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 39 
 
 thing worthy of preservation. "Frequently," related his 
 stepmother, "he had no paper to write his pieces down on. 
 Then he would put them with chalk on a board or plank, 
 sometimes only making a few signs of what he intended 
 to write. When he got paper he would copy them, al- 
 ways bringing them to me and reading them. He would 
 ask my opinion of what he had read, and often explained 
 things to me in his plain and simple language." How he 
 contrived at the age of fourteen to absorb information is 
 thus told by John Hanks : "When Abe and I returned to 
 the house from work he would go to the cupboard, snatch 
 a piece of corn bread, sit down, take a book, cock his legs 
 up as high as his head, and read. We grubbed, plowed, 
 mowed, and worked together barefooted in the field. When- 
 ever Abe had a chance in the field while at work, or at the 
 house, he would stop and read." He kept the Bible and 
 Msop's Fables always within reach, and read them over 
 and over again. These two volumes furnished him with 
 the many figures of speech and parables which he used with 
 such happy effect in his later and public utterances. 
 
 Amid such restricted and unromantic environments the 
 boy developed into the man. The intellectual fire burned 
 slowly, but with a steady and intense glow. Although 
 denied the requisite training of the schoolroom, he was 
 none the less competent to cope with those who had under- 
 gone that discipline. No one had a more retentive memory. 
 If he read or heard a good thing it never escaped him. His 
 powers of concentration were intense, and in the ability 
 through analysis to strip bare a proposition he was un- 
 excelled. His thoughtful and investigating mind dug down 
 after ideas, and never stopped till bottom facts were 
 reached. With such a mental equipment the day was des- 
 tined to come when the world would need the services of 
 his intellect and heart. That he w T as equal to the great 
 task when the demand came is but another striking proof 
 of the grandeur of his character. 
 
CHAPTER THREE 
 
 THE FIRST LAW BOOK LINCOLN EVER READ WAS THE 
 
 Statutes of Indiana." He obtained the volume from his 
 friend David Turnham, who testifies that he fairly de- 
 voured the book in his eager efforts to abstract the store 
 of knowledge that lay between the lids. No doubt, as 
 Turnham insists, the study of the statutes at this early day 
 led Abe to think of the law as his calling in maturer years. 
 At any rate he now began to evince no little zeal in the 
 matter of public speaking — in compliance with the old 
 notion, no doubt, that a lawyer can never succeed unless 
 he has the elements of the orator or advocate in his con- 
 struction — and even when at work in the field he could not 
 resist the temptation to mount the nearest stump and prac- 
 tice on his fellow-laborers. The latter would flock around 
 him, and active operations would cease whenever he began. 
 A cluster of tall and stately trees often made him a most 
 dignified and appreciative audience during the delivery 
 of these maiden forensic efforts. He was old enough to 
 attend musters, log-rollings, and horse-races, and was rap- 
 idly becoming a favored as well as favorite character. 
 "The first time I ever remember of seeing Abe Lincoln," 
 is the testimony of one of his neighbors (James W. 
 Lamar), "was when I was a small boy and had gone with 
 my father to attend some kind of an election. One of our 
 neighbors, James Larkins, was there. Larkins was a great 
 hand to brag on anything he owned. This time it was his 
 horse. He stepped up before Abe, who was in the crowd, 
 and commenced talking to him, boasting all the while of 
 his animal. 
 
 " 'I have got the best horse in the country'," he shouted 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 41 
 
 to his young listener. " 'I ran him three miles in exactly 
 nine minutes, and he never fetched a long breath/ ' ! 
 
 " 'I presume/ said Abe, rather dryly, 'he fetched a good 
 many short ones though/ " 
 
 With all his peaceful propensities Abe was not averse to 
 a contest of strength, either for sport or in settlement — as 
 in one memorable case — of grievances. Personal encoun- 
 ters were of frequent occurrence in Gentryville in those 
 days, and the prestige of having thrashed an opponent gave 
 the victor marked social distinction. Green B. Taylor, with 
 whom Abe worked the greater part of one winter on a 
 farm, furnished me with an account of the noted fight 
 between John Johnston, Abe's step-brother, and William 
 Grigsby, in which stirring drama Abe himself played an 
 important role before the curtain was rung down. Taylor's 
 father was the second for Johnston, and William Whitten 
 officiated in a similar capacity for Grigsby. "They had a 
 terrible fight," relates Taylor, "and it soon became apparent 
 that Grigsby was too much for Lincoln's man, Johnston. 
 After they had fought a long time without interference, 
 it having been agreed not to break the ring, Abe burst 
 through, caught Grigsby, threw him off and some feet 
 away. There he stood, proud as Lucifer, and swinging a 
 bottle of liquor over his head swore he was 'the big buck 
 of the lick.' 'If any one doubts it,' he shouted, 'he has 
 only to come on and whet his horns.' " A general engage- 
 ment followed this challenge, but at the end of hostilities 
 the field was cleared and the wounded retired amid the 
 exultant shouts of their victors. 
 
 Much of the latter end of Abe's boyhood would have 
 been lost in the midst of tradition but for the store of 
 information and recollections I was fortunate enough to 
 secure from an interesting old lady whom I met in In- 
 diana in 1865. She was the wife of Josiah Crawford — 
 "Blue Nose," as Abe had named him — and possessed rare 
 accomplishments for a woman reared in the backwoods of 
 Indiana. She was not only impressed with Abe's early 
 efforts, but expressed great admiration for his sister Sarah, 
 whom she often had with her at her own hospitable home 
 
42 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 and whom she described as a modest, industrious, and sen- 
 sible sister of a humorous and equally sensible brother. 
 From Mrs. Crawford I obtained the few specimens of 
 Abe's early literary efforts and much of the matter that 
 follows in this chapter. 
 
 In one of her conversations with me Mrs. Crawford told 
 me of the exhibitions with which at school they often en- 
 tertained the few persons who attended the closing day. 
 Sometimes, in warm weather, the scholars made a platform 
 of clean boards covered overhead with green boughs. Gen- 
 erally, however, these exhibitions took place in the school- 
 room. The exercises consisted of the varieties offered at 
 this day at the average seminary or school — declamations 
 and dialogues or debates. The declamations were obtained 
 principally from a book called The Kentucky Preceptor, 
 which volume Mrs. Crawford gave me as a souvenir of my 
 visit. Lincoln had often used it himself, she said. The 
 questions for discussion were characteristic of the day and 
 age. The relative merits of the "Bee and the Ant," the 
 difference in strength between "Wind and Water," taxed 
 their knowledge of physical phenomena; and the all-im- 
 portant question "Which has the most right to complain, 
 the Indian or the Negro?" called out their conceptions of 
 a great moral or national wrong. In the discussion of all 
 these grave subjects Lincoln took a deep interest. 1 
 
 The introduction here of the literary feature as affording 
 us a glimpse of Lincoln's boyhood days may to a certain 
 extent grate harshly on over-refined ears; but still no 
 apology is necessary, for, as intimated at the outset, I in- 
 tend to keep close to Lincoln all the way through. Some 
 writers would probably omit these songs and backwoods 
 recitals as savoring too strongly of the Bacchanalian na- 
 ture, but that would be a narrow view to take of history. 
 If we expect to know Lincoln thoroughly we must be pre- 
 pared to take him as he really was. 
 
 In 1826 Abe's sister Sarah was married to Aaron Grigs- 
 by, and at the wedding the Lincoln family sang a song 
 composed in honor of the event by Abe himself. It is a 
 
 1 Original footnote. 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 43 
 
 tiresome doggerel and full of painful rhymes. I reproduce 
 it here from the manuscript furnished me by Mrs. Craw- 
 ford. The author and" composer called it "Adam and Eve's 
 Wedding Song." 
 
 "When Adam was created 
 He dwelt in Eden's shade, 
 As Moses has recorded, 
 
 And soon a bride was made. 
 
 Ten thousand times ten thousand 
 Of creatures swarmed around 
 
 Before a bride was formed, 
 And yet no mate was found. 
 
 The Lord then was not willing 
 
 That man should be alone, 
 But caused a sleep upon him, 
 
 And from him took a bone. 
 
 And closed the flesh instead thereof, 
 
 And then he took the same 
 And of it made a woman, 
 
 And brought her to the man. 
 
 Then Adam he rejoiced 
 
 To see his loving bride 
 A part of his own body, 
 
 The product of his side. 
 
 The woman was not taken 
 
 From Adam's feet we see, 
 So he must not abuse her, 
 
 The meaning seems to be. 
 
 The woman was not taken 
 From Adam's head, we know, 
 
 To show she must not rule him — 
 'Tis evidently so. 
 
 The woman she was taken 
 
 From under Adam's arm, 
 So she must be protected 
 
 From injuries and harm." 
 
44 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 Poor Sarah, at whose wedding this song was sung, never 
 lived to see the glory nor share in the honor that after- 
 wards fell to the lot of her tall and angular brother. 
 Within two years after her marriage, she died in childbirth. 
 Something in the conduct of the Grigsbys and their treat- 
 ment of his sister gave Abe great offense, and for a long 
 time the relations between him and them were much 
 strained. The Grigsbys were the leading family in Gentry- 
 ville, and consequently were of no little importance in a 
 social way. Abe, on the contrary, had no reserve of family 
 or social influence to draw upon. He was only awaiting an 
 opportunity to "even up" the score between them. Neither 
 his father nor any of the Hankses were of any avail, and 
 he therefore for the first time resorted to the use of his 
 pen for revenge. He wrote a number of pieces in which 
 he took occasion to lampoon those who provoked in any 
 way his especial displeasure. It was quite natural to con- 
 ceive therefore that with the gift of satire at command 
 he should not have permitted the Grigsbys to escape. 
 These pieces were called "Chronicles/' and although rude 
 and coarse, they served the purpose designed by their 
 author of bringing public ridicule down on the heads of his 
 victims. They were written in an attempted scriptural 
 vein, and on so many different subjects that one might con- 
 sistently call them "social ventilators." Their grossness 
 must have been warmly appreciated by the early denizens 
 of Gentryville, for the descendants of the latter up to this 
 day have taken care that they should not be buried from 
 sight under the dust of long-continued forgetfulness. I 
 reproduce here, exactly as I obtained it, the particular 
 chapter of the "Chronicles" which reflected on the Grigsbys 
 so severely, and which must serve as a sample of all the 
 others. 
 
 The original chapter in Lincoln's handwriting came to 
 light in a singular manner after having been hidden or lost 
 for years. Shortly before my trip to Indiana in 1865 a 
 carpenter in Gentryville was rebuilding a house belonging 
 to one of the Grigsbys. While so engaged his son and 
 assistant had climbed through the ceiling to the inner side 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 45 
 
 of the roof to tear away some of the timbers, and there 
 found, tucked away under the end of a rafter, a bundle of 
 yellow and dust-covered papers. Carefully withdrawing 
 them from their hiding-place he opened and was slowly 
 deciphering them, when his father, struck by the boy's 
 silence, and hearing no evidence of work, inquired of him 
 what he was doing. "Reading a portion of the Scriptures 
 that haven't been revealed yet/' was the response. He had 
 found the "Chronicles of Reuben." 2 
 
 Reuben and Charles Grigsby on the same day married 
 Betsy Ray and Matilda Hawkins respectively. The day 
 following they with their brides returned to the Grigsby 
 mansion, where the father, Reuben Grigsby senior, gave 
 them a cordial welcome. Here an old-fashioned infare, 
 with feasting and dancing, and the still older fashion of 
 putting the bridal party to bed, took place. When the 
 invitations to these festivities were issued Abe was left 
 out, and the slight led him to furnish an appreciative 
 circle in Gentryville with what he was pleased to term "The 
 First Chronicles of Reuben." 
 
 Lincoln had shrewdly persuaded some one who was on 
 the inside at the infare to slip upstairs while the feasting 
 was at its height and change the beds, which Mamma 
 Grigsby had carefully arranged in advance. The transpo- 
 sition of beds produced a comedy of errors which gave 
 Lincoln as much satisfaction and joy as the Grigsby house- 
 hold embarrassment and chagrin. 3 
 
 "Now there was a man," begins this memorable chapter 
 of backwoods lore, "whose name was Reuben, and the same 
 was very great in substance ; in horses and cattle and swine, 
 and a very great household. It came to pass when the sons 
 of Reuben grew up that they were desirous of taking to 
 themselves wives, and being too well known as to honor 
 in their own country they took a journey into a far 
 country and there procured for themselves wives. It came 
 to pass also that when they were about to make the return 
 home they sent a messenger before them to bear the tid- 
 
 2 Original footnote. 
 
 3 Ibid. 
 
46 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 ings to their parents. These, inquiring of the messengers 
 what time their sons and wives would come, made a great 
 feast and called all their kinsmen and neighbors in and 
 made great preparations. When the time drew nigh they 
 sent out two men to meet the grooms and their brides 
 with a trumpet to welcome them and to accompany them. 
 When they came near unto the house of Reuben the father, 
 the messenger came on before them and gave a shout, and 
 the whole multitude ran out with shouts of joy and music, 
 playing on all kinds of instruments. Some were playing 
 on harps, some on viols, and some blowing on rams' horns. 
 Some also were casting dust and ashes towards heaven, and 
 chief among them all was Josiah, blowing his bugle and 
 making sound so great the neighboring hills and valleys 
 echoed with the resounding acclamation. When they had 
 played and their harps had sounded till the grooms and 
 brides approached the gates, Reuben the father met them 
 and welcomed them to his house. The wedding feast being 
 now ready they were all invited to sit down to eat, placing 
 the bridegrooms and their wives at each end of the table. 
 Waiters were then appointed to serve and wait on the 
 guests. When all had eaten and were full and merry they 
 went out again and played and sung till night, and when 
 they had made an end of feasting and rejoicing the multi- 
 tude dispersed, each going to his own home. The family 
 then took seats with their waiters to converse while prep- 
 arations were being made in an upper chamber for the 
 brides and grooms to be conveyed to their beds. This be- 
 ing done the waiters took the two brides upstairs, placing 
 one in a bed at the right hand of the stairs and the other 
 on the left. The waiters came down, and Nancy the mother 
 then gave directions to the waiters of the bridegrooms, and 
 they took them upstairs but placed them in the wrong beds. 
 The waiters then all came downstairs. But the mother, 
 being fearful of a mistake, made inquiry of the waiters, 
 and learning the true facts took the light and sprang up- 
 stairs. It came to pass she ran to one of the beds and 
 exclaimed, 'O Lord, Reuben, you are in bed with the wrong 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 47 
 
 wife/ The young men, both alarmed at this, sprang up 
 out of bed and ran with such violence against each other 
 they came near knocking each other down. The tumult 
 gave evidence to those below that the mistake was certain. 
 At last they all came down and had a long conversation 
 about who made the mistake, but it could not be decided. 
 So endeth the chapter." 
 
 The reader will readily discern that the waiters had been 
 carefully drilled by Lincoln in advance for the parts they 
 were to perform in this rather unique piece of backwoods 
 comedy. He also improved the rare opportunity which 
 presented itself of caricaturing "Blue Nose" Crawford, 
 who had exacted of him such an extreme penalty for the 
 damage done to his Weems' Life of Washington, He is 
 easily identified as "Josiah blowing his bugle." The latter 
 was also the husband of my informant, Mrs. Elizabeth 
 Crawford. 4 
 
 As the reader will naturally conclude, the revelation of 
 this additional chapter of the Scriptures stirred up the 
 social lions of Gentryville to the fighting point. Nothing 
 but the blood of the author, who was endeavoring to escape 
 public attention under the anonymous cloak, would satisfy 
 the vengeance of the Grigsbys and their friends. But 
 while the latter were discussing the details of discovery and 
 punishment, the versatile young satirist was at work finish- 
 ing up William, the remaining member of the Grigsby 
 family, who had so far escaped the sting of his pen. The 
 lines of rhyme in which William's weaknesses are handed 
 down to posterity, Mrs. Crawford had often afterwards 
 heard Abe recite, but she was very reluctant from a feeling 
 of modesty to furnish them to me. At last, through the 
 influence of her son, I overcame her scruples and obtained 
 the coveted verses. A glance at them will convince the 
 reader that the people of a community who could tolerate 
 these lines would certainly not be surprised or offended at 
 anything that might be found in the "Chronicles." 
 
 4 Original footnote. 
 
48 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 "I will tell you a joke about Joel and Mary, 
 It is neither a joke nor a story, 
 For Reuben and Charles have married two girls, 
 But Billy has married a boy. 
 The girls he had tried on every side, 
 But none could he get to agree; 
 All was in vain, he went home again, 
 And since that he's married to Natty. 
 
 So Billy and Natty agreed very well, 
 And mamma's well pleased with the match. 
 The egg it is laid, but Natty's afraid 
 The shell is so soft it never will hatch, 
 But Betsy, she said, 'You cursed bald head, 
 My suitor you never can be, 
 Besides your ill shape proclaims you an ape, 
 And that never can answer for me/ " 
 
 That these burlesques and the publicity they attained 
 aroused all the ire in the Grigsby family, and eventually 
 made Abe the object on which their fury was spent is not 
 surprising in the least. It has even been contended, and with 
 some show of truth too, that the fight between John John- 
 ston and William Grigsby was the outgrowth of these cari- 
 catures, and that Abe forebore measuring strength with 
 Grigsby, who was considered his physical inferior, and 
 selected Johnston to represent him and fight in his stead. 
 These crude rhymes and awkward imitations of scriptural 
 lore demonstrated that their author, if assailed, was merci- 
 less in satire. In after years Lincoln, when driven to do 
 so, used this weapon of ridicule with telling effect. He 
 knew its power, and on one occasion, in the rejoinder of 
 a debate, drove his opponent in tears from the platform. 
 
 Although devoid of any natural ability as a singer Abe 
 nevertheless made many efforts and had great appreciation 
 of certain songs. In after years he told me he doubted if 
 he really knew what the harmony of sound was. The songs 
 in vogue then were principally of the sacred order. They 
 were from Watts' and Dupuy's hymn-books. David Turn- 
 ham furnished me with a list, marking as especial favorites 
 the following: "Am I a Soldier of the Cross ;" "How 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 49 
 
 Tedious and Tasteless the Hours ;" "There is a Fountain 
 Filled with Blood/' and, "Alas, and did my Saviour 
 Bleed ?" One song pleased Abe not a little. "I used to 
 sing it for old Thomas Lincoln, " relates Turnham, "at 
 Abe's request. The old gentleman liked it and made me 
 sing it often. I can only remember one couplet : 
 
 " 'There was a Romish lady 
 
 She was brought up in Popery/ " 
 
 Dennis Hanks insists that Abe used to try his hand 
 and voice at "Poor old Ned," but never with any degree 
 of success. "Rich, racy verses" were sung by the big 
 boys in the country villages of that day with as keen a 
 relish as they are today. There is no reason and less 
 evidence for the belief that Abe did not partake of this 
 forbidden fruit along with other boys of the same age 
 and condition in life. Among what Dennis called "field 
 songs" are a few lines from this one : 
 
 "The turbaned Turk that scorns the world 
 And struts about with his whiskers curled, 
 For no other man but himself to see." 
 
 Of another ballad we have this couplet: 
 
 "Hail Columbia, happy land, 
 If you ain't drunk I will be damned." 
 
 We can imagine the merry Dennis, hilarious with the 
 exhilaration of deep potations at the village grocery, singing 
 this "field song" as he and Abe wended their way home- 
 ward. A stanza from a campaign song which Abe was 
 in the habit of rendering, according to Mrs. Crawford, at- 
 tests his earliest political predilections : 
 
 "Let auld acquaintance be forgot 
 
 And never brought to mind, 
 May Jackson be our president, 
 And Adams left behind." 
 
 A mournful and distressing ballad, "John Anderson's 
 Lamentation," as rendered by Abe, was written out for me 
 by Mrs. Crawford, but the first lines, 
 
50 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 "Oh, sinners, poor sinners, take warning by me, 
 The fruits of transgression behold now and see," 
 
 will suffice to indicate how mournful the rest of it was. 
 
 The centre of wit and wisdom in the village of Gentry- 
 ville was at the store. This place was in charge of one 
 Jones, who soon after embarking in business seemed to 
 take quite a fancy to Abe. He took the only newspaper — 
 sent from Louisville — and at his place of business gathered 
 Abe, Dennis Hanks, Baldwin, the blacksmith, and other 
 kindred spirits to discuss such topics as are the exclusive 
 property of the store lounger. Abe's original and ridicu- 
 lous stories not only amused the crowd, but the display of 
 his unique faculties made him many friends. One who 
 saw him at this time says : 
 
 "Lincoln would frequently make political speeches to the 
 boys; he was always calm, logical, and clear. His jokes 
 and stories were so odd, original, and witty all the people 
 in town would gather around him. He would keep them 
 till midnight. Abe was a good talker, a good reasoner, 
 and a kind of newsboy." He attended all the trials before 
 the "squire," as that important functionary was called, 
 and frequently wandered off to Boonville, a town on the 
 river, distant fifteen miles, and the county seat of Warrick 
 County, to hear and see how the courts were conducted 
 there. On one occasion, at the latter place, he remained 
 during the trial of a murderer and attentively absorbed the 
 proceedings. A lawyer named Breckenridge represented 
 the defense, and his speech so pleased and thrilled his 
 young listener that the latter could not refrain from ap- 
 proaching the eloquent advocate at the close of his address 
 and congratulating him on his signal success. How 
 Breckenridge accepted the felicitations of the awkward, 
 hapless youth we shall probably never know. The story 
 is told that during Lincoln's term as President, he was 
 favored one day at the White House with a visit by this 
 same Breckenridge, then a resident of Texas, who had 
 called to pay his respects. In a conversation about early 
 days in Indiana, the President, recalling Breckenridge's 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 5 1 
 
 argument in the murder trial, remarked, "If I could, as I 
 then thought, have made as good a speech as that, my soul 
 would have been satisfied ; for it was up to that time the 
 best speech I had ever heard." 
 
 No feature of his backwoods life pleased Abe so well 
 as going to mill. It released him from a day's work in 
 the woods, besides affording him a much desired opportu- 
 nity to watch the movement of the mill's primitive and 
 cumbersome machinery. It was on many of these trips 
 that David Turnham accompanied him. In later years Mr. 
 Lincoln related the following reminiscence of his expe- 
 rience as a miller in Indiana: One day, taking a bag of 
 corn, he mounted the old flea-bitten gray mare and rode 
 leisurely to Gordon's mill. Arriving somewhat late, his 
 turn did not come till almost sundown. In obedience to 
 the custom requiring each man to furnish his own power 
 he hitched the old mare to the arm, and as the animal 
 moved round, the machinery responded with equal speed. 
 Abe was mounted on the arm, and at frequent intervals 
 made use of his whip to urge the animal on to better 
 speed. With a careless "Get up, you old hussy," he ap- 
 plied the lash at each revolution of the arm. In the midst 
 of the exclamation, or just as half of it had escaped through 
 his teeth, the old jade, resenting the continued use of the 
 goad, elevated her shoeless hoofs and striking the young 
 engineer in the forehead, sent him sprawling to the earth. 
 Miller Gordon hurried in, picked up the bleeding, sense- 
 less boy, whom he took for dead, and at once sent for his 
 father. Old Thomas Lincoln came — came as soon as em- 
 bodied listlessness could move — loaded the lifeless boy in 
 a wagon and drove home. Abe lay unconscious all night, 
 but towards break of day the attendants noticed signs of 
 returning consciousness. The blood beginning to flow nor- 
 mally, his tongue struggled to loosen itself, his frame 
 jerked for an instant, and he awoke, blurting out the 
 words "y° u old hussy," or the latter half of the sentence 
 interrupted by the mare's heel at the mill. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln considered this one of the remarkable in- 
 cidents of his life. He often referred to it, and we had 
 
52 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 many discussions in our law office over the psychological 
 phenomena involved in the operation. Without expressing 
 my own views I may say that his idea was that the latter 
 half of the expression, "Get up, you old hussy/' was cut 
 off by a suspension of the normal flow of his mental en- 
 ergy, and that as soon as life's forces returned he uncon- 
 sciously ended the sentence; or, as he in a plainer figure 
 put it : "Just before I struck the old mare my will through 
 the mind had set the muscles of my tongue to utter the 
 expression, and when her heels came in contact with my 
 head the whole thing stopped half-cocked, as it were, and 
 was only fired off when mental energy or force returned." 
 
 By the time he had reached his seventeenth year he had 
 attained the physical proportions of a full-grown man. He 
 was employed to assist James Taylor in the management 
 of a ferry-boat across the Ohio River near the mouth of 
 Anderson's Creek, but was not allowed a man's wages for 
 the work. He received thirty-seven cents a day for what 
 he afterwards told me was the roughest work a young 
 man could be made to do. In the midst of whatever work 
 he was engaged on he still found time to utilize his pen. 
 He prepared a composition on the American Government, 
 calling attention to the necessity of preserving the Consti- 
 tution and prepetuating the Union, which with character- 
 istic modesty he turned over to his friend and patron, Wil- 
 liam Woods, for safe-keeping and perusal. 
 
 Through the instrumentality of Woods it attracted the 
 attention of many persons, among them one Pitcher, a 
 lawyer at Rockport, who with faintly concealed enthu- 
 siasm declared "the world couldn't beat it." An article 
 on Temperance was shown under similar circumstance to 
 Aaron Farmer, a Baptist preacher of local renown, and by 
 him furnished to an Ohio newspaper for publication. The 
 thing, however, which gave him such prominence — a prom- 
 inence too which could have been attained in no other 
 way — was his remarkable physical strength, for he was 
 becoming not only one of the longest, but one of the 
 strongest men around Gentry ville. He enjoyed the brief 
 distinction his exhibitions of strength gave him more than 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 53 
 
 the admiration of his friends for his literary or forensic 
 efforts. Some of the feats attributed to him almost sur- 
 pass belief. One witness declares he was equal to three 
 men, having on a certain occasion carried a load of six 
 hundred pounds. At another time he walked away with 
 a pair of logs which three robust men were skeptical of 
 their ability to carry. "He could strike with a maul a 
 heavier blow — could sink an axe deeper into wood than 
 any man I ever saw," is the testimony of another witness. 
 
 John Pitcher, who read Lincoln's composition on the 
 American Government, is still living, at the age of ninety- 
 three, in Mount Vernon, Indiana. He says that young 
 Lincoln often called at his office and borrowed books to 
 read at home during leisure hours. On one occasion he 
 expressed a desire to study law with Pitcher, but explained 
 that his parents were so poor that he could not be spared 
 from the farm on which they lived. "He related to me in 
 my office one day," says Pitcher, "an account of his pay- 
 ment to Crawford of the damage done to the latter's book 
 — Weems' Life of Washington. Lincoln said, 'You see, 
 I am tall and long-armed, and I went to work in earnest. 
 At the end of the two days there was not a corn-blade 
 left on a stalk in the field. I wanted to pay full damage 
 for all the wetting the book got, and I made a clean 
 sweep/ " 5 
 
 After he had passed his nineteenth year and was near- 
 ing his majority he began to chafe and grow restless un- 
 der the restraints of home rule. Seeing no prospect of 
 betterment in his condition, so long as his fortune was in- 
 terwoven with that of his father, he at last endeavored 
 to strike out into the broad world for himself. Having 
 great faith in the judgment and influence of his fast friend 
 Wood, he solicited from him a recommendation to the 
 officers of some one of the boats plying up and down the 
 river, hoping thereby to obtain employment more con- 
 genial than the dull, fatiguing work of the farm. To this 
 project the judicious Wood was much opposed, and there- 
 fore suggested to the would-be boatman the moral duty 
 
 5 Original footnote. 
 
54 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 that rested on him to remain with his father till the law- 
 released him from that obligation. With deep regret he 
 retraced his steps to the paternal mansion, seriously de- 
 termined not to evade the claim from which in a few 
 weary months he would be finally released. Meanwhile 
 occurred his first opportunity to see the world. In March, 
 1828, James Gentry, for whom he had been at work, had 
 fitted out a boat with a stock of grain and meat for a 
 trading expedition to New Orleans, and placed his son 
 Allen in charge of the cargo for the voyage. Abe's de- 
 sire to make a river trip was at last satisfied, and he ac- 
 companied the proprietor's son, serving as "bow hand." 
 His pay was eight dollars a month and board. In due 
 course of time the navigators returned from their expe- 
 dition with the evidence of profitable results to gladden 
 the heart of the owner. The only occurrence of interest 
 they could relate of the voyage was the encounter with 
 a party of marauding negroes at the plantation of Madame 
 Duchesne, a few miles below Baton Rouge. Abe and 
 Gentry, having tied up for the night, were fast asleep on 
 their boat when aroused by the arrival of a crowd of 
 negroes bent on plunder. They set to work with clubs, 
 and not only drove off the intruders, but pursued them 
 inland, then hastily returning to their quarters they cut 
 loose their craft and floated down-stream till daylight. 
 
 Before passing on further it may not be amiss to glance 
 for a moment at the social side of life as it existed in 
 Gentryville in Abe's day. "We thought nothing," said 
 an old lady whom I interviewed when in Indiana, "of 
 going eight or ten miles to church. The ladies did not 
 stop for the want of a shawl, cloak, or riding-dress in 
 winter time, but would put on their husbands' old over- 
 coats and wrap up their little ones and take one or two 
 of them on their beasts. Their husbands would walk, 
 and thus they would go to church, frequently remaining 
 till the second day before they returned home." 
 
 The old men starting from the fields and out of the 
 woods would carry their guns on their shoulders and go 
 also. They dressed in deer-skin pants, moccasins, and 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 55 
 
 coarse hunting shirts — the latter usually fastened with a 
 rope or leather strap. Arriving at the house where serv- 
 ices were to be held they would recite to each other thrill- 
 ing stories of their hunting exploits, and smoke their pipes 
 with the old ladies. They were treated, and treated each 
 other, with the utmost kindness. A bottle of liquor, a 
 pitcher of water, sugar, and glasses were set out for them ; 
 also a basket of apples or turnips, with, now and then, a 
 pie or cakes. Thus they regaled themselves till the preacher 
 found himself in a condition to begin. The latter, hav- 
 ing also partaken freely of the refreshments provided, 
 would "take his stand, draw his coat, open his shirt col- 
 lar, read his text, and preach and pound till the sweat, 
 produced alike by his exertions and the exhilerating ef- 
 fects of the toddy, rolled from his face in great drops. 
 Shaking hands and singing ended the service." 
 
 The houses were scattered far apart, but the people 
 traveled great distances to participate in the frolic and 
 coarse fun of a log-rolling and sometimes a wedding. 
 Unless in mid-winter the young ladies carried their shoes 
 in their hands, and only put them on when the scene of the 
 festivities was reached. The ladies of maturer years 
 drank whiskey toddy, while the men took the whiskey 
 straight. They all danced merrily, many of them bare- 
 footed, to the tune of a cracked fiddle the night through. 
 We can imagine the gleeful and more hilarious swag- 
 gering home at daybreak to the tune of Dennis Hanks' f es* 
 tive lines: 
 
 "Hail Columbia, happy land, 
 If you ain't drunk I will be damned." 
 
 Although gay, prosperous, and light-hearted, these 
 people were brimming over with superstition. It was at 
 once their food and drink. They believed in the baneful 
 influence of witches, pinned their faith to the curative 
 power of wizards in dealing with sick animals, and 
 shot the image of a witch with a silver ball to break the 
 spell she was supposed to have over human beings. They 
 followed with religious minuteness the directions of the 
 
56 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 water-wizard, with his magic divining rod, and the faith 
 doctor who wrought miraculous cures by strange sounds 
 and signals to some mysterious agency. The flight of a 
 bird in at the window, the breath of a horse on a child's 
 head, the crossing by a dog of a hunter's path, all be- 
 tokened evil luck in store for some one. The moon exer- 
 cised greater influence on the actions of the people and 
 the growth of vegetation than the sun and all the plane- 
 tary system combined. Fence rails could only be cut in 
 the light of the moon, and potatoes planted in the dark 
 of the moon. Trees and plants which bore their fruit 
 above ground could be planted when the moon shone full. 
 Soap could only be made in the light of the moon, and it 
 must only be stirred in one way and by one person. They 
 had the horror of Friday which with many exists to this 
 day. Nothing was to be begun on that unlucky day, for 
 if the rule were violated an endless train of disasters was 
 sure to follow. 
 
 Surrounded by people who believed in these things, Lin- 
 coln grew to manhood. With them he walked, talked, and 
 labored, and from them he also absorbed whatever of su- 
 perstition showed itself in him thereafter. His early Bap- 
 tist training made him a fatalist up to the day of his death, 
 and, listening in boyish wonder to the legends of some 
 toothless old dame led him to believe in the significance 
 of dreams and visions. His surroundings helped to create 
 that unique character which in the eyes of a great portion 
 of the American people was only less curious and amus- 
 ing than it was august and noble. 
 
 The winter of 1829 was marked by another visitation 
 of that dreaded disease, "the milk-sick." It was making 
 the usual ravages among the cattle. Human victims were 
 falling before it every day, and it caused the usual stam- 
 pede in southern Indiana. Dennis Hanks, discouraged by 
 the prospect and grieving over the loss of his stock, pro- 
 posed a move further westward. Returning emigrants 
 had brought encouraging news of the newly developed 
 state of Illinois. Vast stretches of rich alluvial lands were 
 to be had there on the easiest of terms. 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 57 
 
 Besides this, Indiana no longer afforded any induce- 
 ments to the poor man. The proposition of Dennis met 
 with the general assent of the Lincoln family, and espe- 
 cially suited the roving and migratory spirit of Thomas 
 Lincoln. He had been induced to leave Kentucky for the 
 hills of Indiana by the same rosy and alluring reports. 
 He had moved four times since his marriage and in point 
 of worldly goods was not better off than when he started 
 in life. His land groaned under the weight of a long 
 neglected incumbrance 6 and, like many of his neighbors, 
 he was ready for another change. Having disposed of his 
 land to James Gentry, and his grain and stock to young 
 David Turnham, he loaded his household effects into a 
 wagon drawn by two yoke of oxen, and in March, 1830, 
 started for Illinois. The two daughters of Mrs. Lincoln 
 had meanwhile married Dennis Hanks and Levi Hall, and 
 with these additions the party numbered thirteen in all. 
 Abe had just passed his twenty-first birthday. 
 
 The journey was a long and tedious one; the streams 
 were swollen and the roads were muddy almost to the point 
 of impassability. The rude, heavy wagon, with its primi- 
 tive wheels, creaked and groaned as it crawled through the 
 woods and now and then stalled in the mud. Many were 
 the delays, but none ever disturbed the equanimity of its 
 passengers. They were cheerful in the face of all adver- 
 sity, hopeful, and some of them determined ; but none of 
 them more so than the tall, ungainly youth in buck-skin 
 breeches and coon-skin cap who wielded the gad and 
 urged the patient oxen forward. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln once described this journey to me. He 
 said the ground had not yet yielded up the frosts of win- 
 ter ; that during the day the roads would thaw out on the 
 surface and at night freeze over again, thus making travel- 
 ing, especially with oxen, painfully slow and tiresome. 
 There were, of course, no bridges, and the party were 
 
 6 Herndon is in error here. Thomas Lincoln had originally 
 entered one hundred and sixty acres in Indiana, but he succeeded 
 in paying- for eighty acres only. The title to the eighty was 
 clear, however. 
 
58 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 consequently driven to ford the streams, unless by a cir- 
 cuitous route they could avoid them. In the latter part of 
 the day the latter were also frozen slightly, and the oxen 
 would break through a square yard of thin ice at every 
 step. Among other things which the party brought with 
 them was a pet dog, which trotted along after the wagon. 
 One day the little fellow fell behind and failed to catch 
 up till after they had crossed the stream. Missing him 
 they looked back, and there, on the opposite bank, he stood, 
 whining and jumping about in great distress. The water 
 was running over the broken edges of the ice, and the 
 poor animal was afraid to cross. It would not pay to turn 
 the oxen and wagon back and ford the stream again in 
 order to recover a dog, and so the majority, in their 
 anxiety to move forward, decided to go on without him. 
 "But I could not endure the idea of abandoning even a 
 dog," related Lincoln. "Pulling off shoes and socks I 
 waded across the stream and triumphantly returned with 
 the shivering animal under my arm. His frantic leaps 
 of joy and other evidences of a dog's gratitude amply re- 
 paid me for all the exposure I had undergone." 7 
 
 As these humble emigrants entered the new State little 
 did the curious people in the towns through which they 
 passed dream that the obscure and penniless driver who 
 yelled commands to the oxen would yet become Chief 
 Magistrate of the greatest nation of modern times. 
 
 7 Original footnote. 
 
CHAPTER FOUR 
 
 AFTER A FORTNIGHT OF ROUGH AND FATIGUING TRAVEL THE 
 
 colony of Indiana emigrants reached a point in Illinois five 
 miles north-west of the town of Decatur in Macon County. 
 John Hanks, son of that Joseph Hanks in whose shop at 
 Elizabethtown Thomas Lincoln had learned what he knew 
 of the carpenter's art, met and sheltered them until they 
 were safely housed on a piece of land which he had 
 selected for them five miles further westward. He had 
 preceded them over a year, and had in the meantime hewed 
 out a few timbers to be used in the construction of their 
 cabin. The place he had selected was on a bluff overlook- 
 ing the Sangamon River, — for these early settlers must 
 always be in sight of a running stream, — well supplied 
 with timber. It was a charming and picturesque site, and 
 all hands set resolutely to work to prepare the new abode. 
 One felled the trees ; one hewed the timbers for the cabin ; 
 while another cleared the ground of its accumulated growth 
 of underbrush. All was bustle and activity. Even old 
 Thomas Lincoln, infused with the spirit of the hour, was 
 spurred to unwonted exertion. What part of the work fell 
 to his lot our only chronicler, John Hanks, fails to note; 
 but 'it is conjectured from the old gentleman's experience 
 in the art of building that his services corresponded to those 
 of the more modern supervising architect. With the aid 
 of the oxen and a plow John and Abe broke up fifteen 
 acres of sod, and "Abe and myself," observes Hanks in 
 a matter-of-fact way, "split rails enough to fence the place 
 in." As they swung their axes, or with wedge and maul 
 split out the rails, how strange to them the thought would 
 have seemed that those self-same rails were destined to 
 
60 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 make one of them immortal. If such a vision flashed be- 
 fore the mind of either he made no sign of it, but each kept 
 steadily on in his simple, unromantic task. 
 
 Abe had now attained his majority and began to throw 
 from his shoulders the vexations of parental restraint. He 
 had done his duty to his father, and felt able to begin life 
 on his own account. As he steps out into the broad and 
 inviting world we take him up for consideration as a man. 
 At the same time we dispense with further notice of his 
 father, Thomas Lincoln. In the son are we alone inter- 
 ested. The remaining years of his life marked no change 
 in the old gentleman's nature. He still listened to the glow- 
 ing descriptions of prosperity in the adjoining counties, 
 and before his death moved three times in search of better 
 times and a healthy location. In 1851 we find him living 
 on forty acres of land on Goose Nest prairie, in Coles 
 County, Illinois. The land bore the usual incumbrance — a 
 mortgage for two hundred dollars, which his son after- 
 wards paid. On the 17th of January, after suffering for 
 many weeks from a disorder of the kidneys, he passed 
 away at the ripe old age — as his son tells us — of "seventy- 
 three years and eleven days." 
 
 For a long time after beginning life on his own account 
 Abe remained in sight of the parental abode. He worked 
 at odd jobs in the neighborhood, or wherever the demand 
 for his services called him. As late as 1831 he was still 
 in the same parts, and John Hanks is authority for the 
 statement that he "made three thousand rails for Major 
 Warnick" walking daily three miles to his work. During 
 the intervals of leisure he read the few books obtainable, 
 and continued the practice of extemporaneous speaking to 
 the usual audience of undemonstrative stumps and voice- 
 less trees. His first attempt at public speaking after 
 landing in Illinois is thus described to me by John Hanks, 
 whose language I incorporate : "After Abe got to Decatur, 
 or rather to Macon County, a man by the name of Posey 
 came into our neighborhood and made a speech. It was a 
 bad one, and I said Abe could beat it. I turned down a 
 box and Abe made his speech. The other man was a can- 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 6l 
 
 didate — Abe wasn't. Abe beat him to death, his subject 
 being the navigation of the Sangamon River. The man, 
 after Abe's speech was through, took him aside and asked 
 him where he had learned so much and how he could do 
 so well. Abe replied, stating his manner and method of 
 reading, and what he had read. The man encouraged him 
 to persevere/' 
 
 For the first time we are now favored with the appear- 
 ance on the scene of a very important personage — one 
 destined to exert no little influence in shaping Lincoln's 
 fortunes. It is Denton Offut, a brisk and venturesome 
 business man, whose operations extended up and down the 
 Sangamon River for many miles. Having heard glowing 
 reports of John Hanks' successful experience as a boatman 
 in Kentucky he had come down the river to engage the 
 latter's services to take a boat-load of stock and provi- 
 sions to New Orleans. "He wanted me to go badly," 
 observes Hanks, "but I waited awhile before answering. I 
 hunted up Abe, and I introduced him and John Johnston, 
 his step-brother, to Offut. After some talk we at last made 
 an engagement with Offut at fifty cents a day and sixty 
 dollars to make the trip to New Orleans. Abe and I came 
 down the Sangamon River in a canoe in March, 1831 ; 
 landed at what is now called Jamestown, five miles east of 
 Springfield, then known as Judy's Ferry." Here Johnston 
 joined them, and, leaving their canoe in charge of one Uriah 
 Mann, they walked to Springfield, where after some in- 
 quiry they found the genial and enterprising Offut regaling 
 himself with the good cheer dispensed at "The Buckhorn" 
 inn. This hostelry, kept by Andrew Elliot, was the leading 
 place of its kind in the then unpretentious village of 
 Springfield. The figure of a buck's head painted on a sign 
 swinging in front of the house gave rise to its name. Offut 
 had agreed with Hanks to have a boat ready for him and 
 his two companions at the mouth of Spring Creek on their 
 arrival, but too many deep potations with the new-comers 
 who daily thronged about the "Buckhorn" had interfered 
 with the execution of his plans, and the boat still re- 
 mained in the womb of the future. Offut met the three ex- 
 
62 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 pectant navigators on their arrival, and deep were his re- 
 grets over his failure to provide the boat. The interview 
 resulted in the trio engaging to make the boat themselves. 
 From what was known as "Congress land" they obtained 
 an abundance of timber, and by the aid of the machinery at 
 Kirkpatrick's mill they soon had the requisite material for 
 their vessel. While the work of construction was going on 
 a shanty was built in which they were lodged. Lincoln was 
 elected cook, a distinction he never under-estimated for a 
 moment. Within four weeks the boat was ready to launch. 
 Offut was sent for, and was present when she slid into 
 the water. It was the occasion of much political chat and 
 buncombe, in which the Whig party and Jackson alike 
 were, strangely enough, lauded to the skies. It is difficult 
 to account for the unanimous approval of such strikingly 
 antagonistic ideas, unless it be admitted that Offut must 
 have brought with him some substantial reminder of the 
 hospitality on draught at the "Buckhorn" inn. Many dis- 
 putes arose, we are told, in which Lincoln took part and 
 found a good field for practice and debate. 
 
 A traveling juggler halted long enough in Sangamon- 
 town, where the boat was launched, to give an exhibition 
 of his art and dexterity in the loft of Jacob Carman's 
 house. In Lincoln's low-crowned, broad-brimmed hat the 
 magician cooked eggs. As explanatory of the delay in 
 passing up his hat Lincoln drolly observed, "It was out of 
 respect for the eggs, not care for my hat." 
 
 Having loaded the vessel with pork in barrels, corn, 
 and hogs, these sturdy boatmen swung out into the stream. 
 On April 19 they reached the town of New Salem, a place 
 destined to be an important spot in the career of Lincoln. 
 There they met with their first serious delay. The boat 
 stranded on Rutledge's mill-dam and hung helplessly over it 
 a day and a night. "We unloaded the boat," narrated one 
 of the crew to explain how they obtained relief from their 
 embarrassing situation ; "that is, we transferred the goods 
 from our boat to a borrowed one. We then rolled the 
 barrels forward; Lincoln bored a hole in the end [pro- 
 jecting] over the dam; the water which had leaked in ran 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 63 
 
 out and we slid over." Offut was profoundly impressed 
 with this exhibition of Lincoln's ingenuity. In his enthusi- 
 asm he declared to the crowd who covered the hill and who 
 had been watching Lincoln's operation that he would build 
 a steamboat to plow up and down the Sangamon, and that 
 Lincoln should be her Captain. She would have rollers for 
 shoals and dams, runners for ice, and with Lincoln in 
 charge, "By thunder, she'd have to go !" 
 
 After release from their embarrassing, not to say peril- 
 ous, position the boat and her crew floated away from 
 New Salem and passed on to a point known as Blue Banks, 
 where as- the historian of the voyage says : "We had to load 
 some hogs bought of Squire Godbey. We tried to drive 
 them aboard, but could not. They would run back past 
 us. Lincoln then suggested that we sew their eyes shut. 
 Thinking to try it, we caught them, Abe holding their 
 heads and I their tails while Offut sewed up their eyes. 
 Still they wouldn't drive. At last, becoming tired, we 
 carried them to the boat. Abe received them and cut 
 open their eyes, Johnston and I handing them to him." 
 After thus disposing of the hog problem they again swung 
 loose and floated down-stream. From the Sangamon they 
 passed to the Illinois. At Beardstown their unique craft, 
 with its "sails made of planks and cloth," excited the 
 amusement and laughter of those who saw them from the 
 shore. Once on the bosom of the broad Mississippi they 
 glided past Alton, St. Louis, and Cairo in rapid succession, 
 tied up for a day at Memphis, and made brief stops at 
 Vicksburg and Natchez. Early in May they reached New 
 Orleans, where they lingered a month, disposing of their 
 cargo and viewing the sights which the Crescent City 
 afforded. 
 
 In New Orleans, for the first time Lincoln beheld the 
 true horrors of human slavery. He saw "negroes in 
 chains — whipped and scourged." Agains this inhumanity 
 his sense of right and justice rebelled, and his mind and 
 conscience were awakened to a realization of what he had 
 often heard and read. No doubt, as one of his compan- 
 ions has said, "Slavery ran the iron into him then and 
 
64 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 there." One morning in their rambles over the city the 
 trio passed a slave auction. A vigorous and comely mulat- 
 to girl was being sold. She underwent a thorough exami- 
 nation at the hands of the bidders ; they pinched her flesh 
 and made her trot up and down the room like a horse, to 
 show how she moved, and in order, as the auctioneer said, 
 that "bidders might satisfy themselves" whether the article 
 they were offering to buy was sound or not. The whole 
 thing was so revolting that Lincoln moved away from the 
 scene with a deep feeling of "unconquerable hate." Bid- 
 ding his companions follow him he said, "By God, boys, 
 let's get away from this. If ever I get a chance to hit that 
 thing [meaning slavery], I'll hit it hard." This incident 
 was furnished me in 1865, by John Hanks. 1 I have also 
 heard Mr. Lincoln refer to it himself. 
 
 In June the entire party, including Offut, boarded a 
 steamboat going up the river. At St. Louis they disem- 
 barked, Offut remaining behind while Lincoln, Hanks, and 
 Johnston started across Illinois on foot. At Edwardsville 
 they separated, Hanks going to Springfield, while Lincoln 
 and his step-brother followed the road to Coles County, to 
 which point old Thomas Lincoln had meanwhile removed. 
 Here Abe did not tarry long, probably not over a month, 
 but long enough to dispose most effectually of one Daniel 
 Needham, a famous wrestler who had challenged the re- 
 turned boatman to a test of strength. The contest took 
 place at a locality known as "Wabash Point." Abe threw 
 his antagonist twice with comparative ease, and thereby 
 demonstrated such marked strength and agility as to render 
 him forever popular with the boys of that neighborhood. 
 
 In August the waters of the Sangamon River washed 
 Lincoln in to New Salem. This once sprightly and thriv- 
 en one of his autobiographical statements Lincoln remarks 
 that John Hanks went no further than St. Louis on this trip. 
 Nevertheless, it is likely that Lincoln witnessed some such scene 
 as Hanks described. That he was greatly affected by it is very 
 doubtful, since it was many years before he was to exhibit par- 
 ticular concern over the slavery problem. 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 65 
 
 ing village is no longer in existence. Not a building, 
 scarcely a stone, is left to mark the place where it once 
 stood. To reach it now the traveler must ascend a bluff 
 a hundred feet above the general level of the surrounding 
 country. The brow of the ridge, two hundred and fifty 
 feet broad where it overlooks the river, widens gradually 
 as it extends westwardly to the forest and ultimately to 
 broad pastures. Skirting the base of the bluff is the 
 Sangamon River, which, coming around a sudden bend 
 from the south-east, strikes the rocky hill and is turned 
 abruptly north. Here is an old mill, driven by water- 
 power, and reaching across the river is the mill-dam on 
 which Offut's vessel hung stranded in April, 1831. As the 
 river rolled her turbid waters over the dam, plunging them 
 into the whirl and eddy beneath, the roar of waters, like 
 low, continuous, distant thunder, could be distinctly heard 
 through the village day and night. 
 
 The country in almost every direction is diversified by 
 alternate stretches of hills and level lands, with streams 
 between each struggling to reach the river. The hills are 
 bearded with timber — oak, hickory, walnut, ash, and elm. 
 Below them are stretches of rich alluvial bottom land, and 
 the eye ranges over a vast expanse of foliage, the monot- 
 ony of which is relieved by the alternating swells and de- 
 pressions of the landscape. Between peak and peak, 
 through its bed of limestone, sand, and clay, sometimes 
 kissing the feet of one bluff and then hugging the other, 
 rolls the Sangamon River. The village of New Salem, 
 which once stood on the ridge, was laid out in 1828; it 
 became a trading place, and in 1836 contained twenty 
 houses and a hundred inhabitants. In the days of land 
 offices and stage-coaches it was a sprightly village with a 
 busy market. Its people were progressive and industrious. 
 Propitious winds filled the sails of its commerce, pros- 
 perity smiled graciously on its every enterprise, and the 
 outside world encouraged its social pretensions. It had 
 its day of glory, but, singularly enough, contemporaneous 
 with the departure of Lincoln from its midst it went into a 
 
DO LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 rapid decline. A few crumbling stones here and there are 
 all that attest its former existence. 2 "How it vanished," 
 observes one writer, "like a mist in the morning, to what 
 distant places its inhabitants dispersed, and what became 
 of the abodes they left behind, shall be questions for the 
 local historian." 
 
 Lincoln's return to New Salem in August, 1831, was, 
 within a few days, contemporaneous with the reappearance 
 of Offut, who made the gratifying announcement that he 
 had purchased a stock of goods which were to follow him 
 from Beardstown. He had again retained the services of 
 Lincoln to assist him when his merchandise should come to 
 hand. The tall stranger — destined to be a stranger in 
 New Salem no longer — pending the arrival of his em- 
 ployer's goods, lounged about the village with nothing to 
 do. Leisure never sat heavily on him. To him there was 
 nothing uncongenial in it, and he might very properly have 
 been dubbed at the time a "loafer." He assured those with 
 whom he came in contact that he was a piece of floating 
 driftwood ; that after the winter of deep snow, he had come 
 down the river with the freshet ; borne along by the swell- 
 ing waters, and aimlessly floating about, he had acciden- 
 tally lodged at New Salem. Looking back over his history 
 we are forced to conclude that Providence or chance, or 
 whatever power is responsible for it, could not have as- 
 signed him to a more favorable refuge. 
 
 His introduction to the citizens of New Salem, as Men- 
 tor Graham the schoolteacher tells us, was in the capacity 
 of clerk of an election board. Graham furnishes ample 
 testimony of the facility, fairness, and honesty which char- 
 acterized the new clerk's work, and both teacher and clerk 
 were soon bound together by the warmest of ties. During 
 the day, when votes were coming in slowly, Lincoln began 
 to entertain the crowd at the polls with a few attempts at 
 
 2 The site of the village of New Salem has been acquired by 
 the State of Illinois and made into a State Park. Several cabins 
 have been reconstructed, and the complete restoration of the 
 village is planned. 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 6j 
 
 story-telling. My cousin, J. R. Herndon, was present and 
 enjoyed this feature of the election with the keenest relish. 
 He never forgot some of Lincoln's yarns and was fond of 
 repeating them in after years. The recital of a few stories 
 by Lincoln easily established him in the good graces of all 
 New Salem. Perhaps he did not know it at the time, 
 but he had used the weapon nearest at hand and had won. 
 "In the afternoon," my cousin relates, "as things were 
 dragging a little, Lincoln the new man, began to spin out 
 a stock of Indiana yarns. One that amused me more than 
 any other he called the lizard story. The meeting-house/ 
 he said, 'was in the woods and quite a distance from any 
 other house. It was only used once a month. The 
 preacher— an old line Baptist — was dressed in coarse linen 
 pantaloons, and shirt of the same material. The pants, 
 manufactured after the old fashion, with baggy legs and 
 a flap in front, were made to attach to his frame without 
 the aid of suspenders. A single button held his shirt in 
 position, and that was at the collar. He rose up in the 
 pulpit and with a loud voice announced his text thus: T 
 am the Christ, whom I shall represent today/ About this 
 time a little blue lizard ran up underneath his baggy pan- 
 taloons. The old preacher, not wishing to interrupt the 
 steady flow of his sermon, slapped away on his legs, expect- 
 ing to arrest the intruder ; but his efforts were unavailing, 
 and the little fellow kept on ascending higher and higher. 
 Continuing the sermon, the preacher slyly loosened the 
 central button which graced the waist-band of his panta- 
 loons and with a kick off came that easy-fitting garment. 
 But meanwhile Mr. Lizard had passed the equatorial line 
 of waist-band and was calmly exploring that part of the 
 preacher's anatomy which lay underneath the back of his 
 shirt. Things were now growing interesting, but the ser- 
 mon was still grinding on. The next movement on the 
 preacher's part was for the collar button, and with one 
 sweep of his arm off came the tow linen shirt. The con- 
 gregation sat for an instant as if dazed; at length one 
 old lady in the rear of the room rose up and glancing at 
 
68 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 the excited object in the pulpit, shouted at the top of her 
 voice: Tf you represent Christ then I'm done with the 
 Bible'." 8 
 
 A few days after the election Lincoln found employ- 
 ment with one Dr. Nelson, who after the style of digni- 
 taries of later days started with his family and effects in 
 his "private" conveyance — which in this instance was a 
 flat-boat — for Texas. Lincoln was hired to pilot the ves- 
 sel through to the Illinois River. Arriving at Beardstown 
 the pilot was discharged, and returned on foot across the 
 sand and hills to New Salem. In the meantime Offut's 
 long expected goods had arrived, and Lincoln was placed 
 in charge. Offut relied in no slight degree on the business 
 capacity of his clerk. In his effusive way he praised him 
 beyond reason. He boasted of his skill as a business man 
 and his wonderful intellectual acquirements. As for physi- 
 cal strength and fearlessness of danger, he challenged New 
 Salem and the entire world to produce his equal. In keep- 
 ing with his widely known spirit of enterprise Offut rented 
 the Rutledge and Cameron mill, which stood at the foot 
 of the hill, and thus added another iron to keep company 
 with the half-dozen already in the fire. As a further test 
 of his business ability Lincoln was placed in charge of 
 this also. William G. Greene was hired to assist him, 
 and between the two a life-long friendship sprang up. 
 They slept in the store, and so strong was the intimacy 
 between them that "when one turned over the other had 
 to do likewise." At the head of these varied enterprises 
 was Offut, the most progressive man by all odds in the 
 village. He was certainly an odd character, if we accept 
 the judgment of his contemporaries. By some he is given 
 the character of a clear-headed, brisk man of affairs. By 
 others he is variously described as "wild, noisy, and reck- 
 less," or "windy, rattle-brained, unsteady, and improvi- 
 dent." Despite the unenviable traits ascribed to him he 
 was good at heart and a generous friend of Lincoln. His 
 boast that the latter could outrun, whip, or throw down 
 any man in Sangamon County was soon tested, as we 
 3 Original footnote. 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 69 
 
 shall presently see, for, as another has truthfully expressed 
 it, "honors such as Offut accorded to Abe were to be won 
 before they were worn at New Salem/' In the neighbor- 
 hood of the village, or rather a few miles to the south- 
 west, lay a strip of timber called Clary's Grove. The 
 boys who lived there were a terror to the entire region — 
 seemingly a necessary product of frontier civilization. 
 They were friendly and good-natured ; they could trench 
 a pond, dig a bog, build a house; they could pray and 
 fight, make a village or create a state. They would do 
 almost anything for sport or fun, love or necessity. Though 
 rude and rough, though life's forces ran over the edge 
 of the bowl, foaming and sparkling in pure deviltry for 
 deviltry's sake, yet place before them a poor man who 
 needed their aid, a lame or sick man, a defenceless woman, 
 a widow, or an orphaned child, they melted into sympathy 
 and charity at once. They gave all they had, and willingly 
 toiled or played cards for more. Though there never was 
 under the sun a more generous parcel of rowdies, a strang- 
 er's introduction was likely to be the most unpleasant part 
 of his acquaintance with them. They conceded leadership 
 to one Jack Armstrong, a hardy, strong, and well-devel- 
 oped specimen of physical manhood, and under him they 
 were in the habit of "cleaning out" New Salem whenever 
 his order went forth to do so. Offut and "Bill" Clary — 
 the latter skeptical of Lincoln's strength and agility — 
 ended a heated discussion in the store one day over the 
 new clerk's ability to meet the tactics of Clary's Grove, by 
 a bet of ten dollars that Jack Armstrong was, in the lan- 
 guage of the day, "a better man than Lincoln." The 
 new clerk strongly opposed this sort of an introduction, 
 but after much entreaty from Offut, at last consented to 
 make his bow to the social lions of the town in this un- 
 usual way. He was now six feet four inches high, and 
 weighed, as his friend and confidant, William Greene, 
 tells us with impressive precision, "two hundred and four- 
 teen pounds." The contest was to be a friendly one and 
 fairly conducted. All New Salem adjourned to the scene 
 of the wrestle. Money, whiskey, knives, and all manner 
 
JO LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 of property were staked on the result. It is unnecessary 
 to go into the details of the encounter. Everyone knows 
 how it ended ; how at last the tall and angular rail-splitter, 
 enraged at the suspicion of foul tactics, and profiting by 
 his height and the length of his arms, fairly lifted the great 
 bully by the throat and shook him like a rag ; how by this 
 act he established himself solidly in the esteem of all New 
 Salem, and secured the respectful admiration and friend- 
 ship of the very man whom he had so thoroughly van- 
 quished. From this time forward Jack Armstrong, his 
 wife Hannah, and all the other Armstrongs, became his 
 warm and trusted friends. None stood readier than they 
 to rally to his support, none more willing to lend a help- 
 ing hand. Lincoln appreciated their friendship and sup- 
 port, and in after years proved his gratitude by saving 
 one member of the family from the gallows. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln's remarkable strength resulted not so much 
 from muscular power as from the toughness of his sinews. 
 He could not only lift from the ground enormous weight, 
 but could throw a cannon-ball or a maul farther than 
 anyone else in New Salem. I heard him explain once 
 how he was enabled thus to excel others. He did not at- 
 tribute it to a greater proportion of physical strength, but 
 contended that because of the unusual length of his arms 
 the ball or projectile had a greater swing and therefore 
 acquired more force and momentum than in the hands 
 of an average man. 4 
 
 The business done over Offut's counter gave his clerk 
 frequent intervals of rest, so that, if so inclined, an abun- 
 dance of time for study was always at his disposal. Lin- 
 coln had long before realized the deficiencies of his 
 education, and resolved, now that the conditions were 
 favorable, to atone for early neglect by a course of study. 
 Nothing was more apparent to him than his limited knowl- 
 edge of language, and the proper way of expressing his 
 ideas. Moreover, it may be said that he appreciated his 
 inefficiency in a rhetorical sense, and therefore determined 
 to overcome all these obstacles by mastering the intricacies 
 
 A Original footnote. 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN JI 
 
 of grammatical construction. Acting on the advice of 
 Mentor Graham he hunted up one Vaner, who was the 
 reputed owner of Kirkham's Grammar, and after a walk 
 of several miles returned to the store with the coveted 
 volume under his arm. With zealous perseverance he at 
 once applied himself to the book. Sometimes he would 
 stretch out at full length on the counter, his head propped 
 up on a stack of calico prints, studying it; or he would 
 steal away to the shade of some inviting tree, and there 
 spend hours at a time in a determined effort to fix in his 
 mind the arbitrary rule that "adverbs qualify verbs, ad- 
 jectives, and other adverbs." From the vapidity of gram- 
 mar it was now and then a great relaxation to turn to 
 the more agreeable subject of mathematics ; and he might 
 often have been seen lying face downwards, stretched out 
 over six feet of grass, figuring out on scraps of paper 
 some problem given for solution by a quizzical store 
 lounger, or endeavoring to prove that, "multiplying the 
 denominator of a fraction divides it, while dividing the 
 denominator multiplies it." Rather a poor prospect one 
 is forced to admit for a successful man of business. 
 
 At this point in my narrative I am pained to drop from 
 further notice our buoyant and effusive friend Offut. His 
 business ventures failing to yield the extensive returns he 
 predicted, and too many of his obligations maturing at 
 the same time, he was forced to pay the penalty of com- 
 mercial delinquency and went to the wall. He soon dis- 
 appeared from the village, and the inhabitants thereof 
 never knew whither he went. In the significant language 
 of Lincoln he "petered out." As late as 1873 I received 
 a letter from Dr. James Hall, a physician living at St. 
 Dennis, near Baltimore, Maryland, who, referring to the 
 disappearance of Offut, relates the following reminiscence : 
 "Of what consequence to know or learn more of Offut I 
 cannot imagine ; but be assured he turned up after leaving 
 New Salem. On meeting the name it seemed familiar, 
 but I could not locate him. Finally I fished up from mem- 
 ory that some twenty-five years ago one 'Denton Offut* 
 appeared in Baltimore, hailing from Kentucky, advertis- 
 
72 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 ing himself in the city papers as a veterinary surgeon and 
 horse tamer, professing to have a secret to whisper in the 
 horse's ear, or a secret manner of whispering in his ear, 
 which he could communicate to others, and by which 
 the most refractory and vicious horse could be quieted and 
 controlled. For this secret he charged five dollars, bind- 
 ing the recipient by oath not to divulge it. I know several 
 persons, young fancy horsemen, who paid for the trick. 
 Offut advertised himself not only through the press, but 
 by his strange attire. He appeared in the streets on horse- 
 back and on foot, in plain citizens' dress of black, but with 
 a broad sash across his right shoulder, of various colored 
 ribbons, crossed on his left hip under a large rosette of 
 the same material, the whole rendering his appearance 
 most ludicrously conspicuous. Having occasion to pur- 
 chase a horse I encountered him at several of our stables 
 and was strongly urged to avail myself of his secret. So 
 much for Offut; but were he living in '61, I doubt not 
 Mr. Lincoln would have heard of him." 
 
 The early spring of 1832 brought to Springfield and 
 New Salem a most joyful announcement. It was the news 
 of the coming of a steamboat down the Sangamon River — 
 proof incontestable that the stream was navigable. The 
 enterprise was undertaken and carried through by Captain 
 Vincent Bogue, of Springfield, who had gone to Cincin- 
 nati to procure a vessel and thus settle the much-mooted 
 question of the river's navigability. When, therefore, he 
 notified the people of his town that the steamboat Talis- 
 man would put out from Cincinnati for Springfield, we 
 can well imagine what great excitement and unbounded 
 enthusiasm followed the announcement. Springfield, New 
 Salem, and all the other towns along the now interesting 
 Sangamon were to be connected by water with the outside 
 world. Public meetings, with the accompaniment of long 
 subscription lists, were held ; the merchants of Springfield 
 advertised the arrival of goods "direct from the East per 
 steamer Talisman ;" the mails were promised as often as 
 once a week from the same direction ; all the land adjoin- 
 ing each enterprising and aspiring village along the river 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 7$ 
 
 was subdivided into town lots — in fact, the whole region 
 began to feel the stimulating effects of what, in later days, 
 would have been called a "boom." I remember the oc- 
 casion well, for two reasons. It was my first sight of a 
 steamboat, and also the first time I ever saw Mr. Lin- 
 coln — although I never became acquainted with him till 
 his second race for the Legislature in 1834. In response 
 to the suggestion of Captain Bogue, made from Cincin- 
 nati, a number of citizens — among the number Lincoln — 
 had gone down the river to Beardstown to meet the ves- 
 sel as she emerged from the Illinois. These were armed 
 with axes having long handles, to cut away, as Bogue had 
 recommended, "branches of trees hanging over from the 
 banks." After having passed New Salem, I and other 
 boys on horseback followed the boat, riding along the 
 river's bank as far as Bogue's mill, where she tied up. 
 There we went aboard, and lost in boyish wonder, feasted 
 our eyes on the splendor of her interior decorations. The 
 Sangamon Journal of that period contains numerous poet- 
 ical efforts celebrating the Talisman's arrival. A few 
 lines under date of April 5, 1832, unsigned, but sup- 
 posed to have been the product of a local poet — one 
 Oliphant — were sung to the tune of "Clar de Kitchen." 
 I cannot refrain from inflicting a stanza or two of this 
 ode on the reader : 
 
 "O, Captain Bogue he gave the load, 
 And Captain Bogue he showed the road; 
 And we came up with a right good will, 
 And tied our boat up to his mill. 
 
 Now we are up the Sangamo, 
 And here we'll have a grand hurra, 
 So fill your glasses to the brim, 
 Of whiskey, brandy, wine, and gin. 
 
 Illinois suckers, young and raw, 
 Were strung along the Sangamo, 
 To see a boat come up by steam 
 They surelv thought it was a dream." 
 
74 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 On its arrival at Springfield, or as near Springfield as 
 the river ran, the crew of the boat were given a reception 
 and dance in the courthouse. The cream of the town's 
 society attended to pay their respects to the newly arrived 
 guests. The captain in charge of the boat — not Captain 
 Bogue, but a vainly dressed fellow from the East — was 
 accompanied by a woman, more gaudily attired than him- 
 self, whom he introduced as his wife. Of course the most 
 considerate attention was shown them both, until later in 
 the evening, when it became apparent that the gallant of- 
 ficer and his fair partner had imbibed too freely — for in 
 those days we had plenty of good cheer — and were becom- 
 ing unpleasantly demonstrative in their actions. This 
 breach of good manners openly offended the high-toned 
 nature of Springfield's fair ladies; but not more than 
 the lamentable fact, which they learned on the following 
 day, that the captain's partner was not his wife at all, but 
 a woman of doubtful reputation whom he had brought 
 with him from some place further east. 
 
 [The effusion of another local rimester affords some 
 idea of this social event : 
 
 "There was a ball at night, I guess, 
 For the ladies' sakes it couldn't be less — 
 And twenty bachelors they say, 
 Were strung in Hymen's noose that day. 
 To such a height their courage went, 
 So tired were they of Love's long lent ! 
 Great guns were fired, and small ones too, 
 Believe me, prairie bard, 'tis true ! . . . . 
 Jabez's gude liquors went off slick, 
 Some for the cash, but most on tick; 
 The small beer poets made a show, 
 And their small whistles loud did blow."] 
 
 But to return to the Talisman. That now interesting 
 vessel lay for a week longer at Bogue's mill, when the 
 receding waters admonished her officers that unless they 
 purposed spending the remainder of the year there they 
 must head her down-stream. In this emergency recourse 
 was had to my cousin Rowan Herndon, who had had no 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 75 
 
 little experience as a boatman, and who recommended the 
 employment of Lincoln as a skilful assistant. These two 
 inland navigators undertook therefore the contract of pilot- 
 ing the vessel — which had now become elephantine in pro- 
 portions — through the uncertain channel of the Sangamon 
 to the Illinois River. The average speed was four miles 
 a day. At New Salem safe passage over the mill-dam 
 was deemed impossible unless the same could be lowered or 
 a portion removed. To this, Cameron and Rutledge, own- 
 ers of the mill, entered their most strenuous protest. The 
 boat's officers responded that under the Federal Constitu- 
 tion and laws no one had the right to dam up or in any 
 way obstruct a navigable stream, and they argued that, 
 as they had just demonstrated that the Sangamon was 
 navigable (?), they proposed to remove enough of the 
 obstruction to let the boat through. Rowan Herndon, 
 describing it to me in 1865, said: "When we struck the 
 dam she hung. We then backed off and threw the anchor 
 over. We tore away part of the dam and raising steam 
 ran her over on the first trial. ,, The entire proceeding 
 stirred up no little feeling, in which the mill owners, boat 
 officers, and passengers took part. The effect the return 
 trip of the Talisman had on those who believed in the 
 successful navigation of the Sangamon is shrewdly indi- 
 cated by the pilot, who with laconic complacency adds : 
 "As soon as she was over, the company that chartered her 
 was done with her." Lincoln and Herndon, in charge of 
 the vessel, piloted her through to Beardstown. There they 
 were paid forty dollars each, according to contract, and 
 bidding adieu to the Talisman's officers and crew, set out 
 on foot for New Salem again. A few months later the 
 Talisman caught fire at the wharf in St. Louis and went 
 up in flames. The experiment of establishing a steamboat 
 line to Springfield proved an unfortunate venture for its 
 projector, Captain Bogue. Finding himself unable to 
 meet his rapidly maturing obligations, incurred in aid of 
 the enterprise, it is presumed that he left the country, 
 for the Journal of that period is filled with notices of at- 
 tachment proceedings brought by vigilant creditors who 
 had levied on his goods. 
 
HAPTER FIV 
 
 THE DEPARTURE OF THE Talisman FOR DEEPER WATERS, 
 
 the downfall of Denton Offut's varied enterprises and his 
 disappearance from New Salem, followed in rapid suc- 
 cession, and before the spring of 1832 had merged into 
 summer Lincoln found himself a piece of "floating drift- 
 wood" again. Where he might have lodged had not the 
 Black Hawk war intervened can only be a matter of con- 
 jecture. A glance at this novel period in his life may not 
 be out of keeping with the purpose of this book. The great 
 Indian chief, Black Hawk, who* on the 30th of June, 
 1831, had entered into an agreement, having all the solem- 
 nity of a treaty, with Governor Reynolds and General 
 Gaines that none of his tribe should ever cross the Missis- 
 sippi "to their usual place of residence, nor any part of 
 their old hunting grounds east of the Mississippi, without 
 permission of the President of the United States or the 
 governor of the State of Illinois," had openly broken the 
 compact. On the 6th of April, 1832, he recrossed the 
 Mississippi and marched up Rock River Valley, accom- 
 panied by about five hundred warriors on horseback; 
 while his women and children went up the river in canoes. 1 
 The great chief was now sixty-seven years old, and be- 
 lieved that his plots were all ripe and his allies fast and 
 true. Although warned by General Atkinson, then in com- 
 mand of Fort Armstrong, against this aggression, and or- 
 
 1 In violating the pledge of the previous year, Black Hawk 
 and his braves were driven by fear of starvation. Their purpose 
 was not to make war, but to join the Winnebagoes and raise 
 enough corn to keep them through the next winter. Hostilities 
 were precipitated by the white militiamen. 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN J7 
 
 dered to return, he proudly refused, claiming that he had 
 "come to plant corn." On being informed of the move- 
 ment of Black Hawk Governor Reynolds called for a thou- 
 sand mounted volunteers to co-operate with the United 
 States forces under command of General Atkinson, and 
 drive the w T ily Indian back across the Mississippi. The 
 response to the governor's call was prompt and energetic. 
 In the company from Sangamon County Lincoln enlisted, 
 and now for the first time entered on the vicissitudinous 
 and dangerous life of a soldier. That he in fact regarded 
 the campaign after the Indians as a sort of holiday affair 
 and chicken-stealing expedition is clearly shown in a speech 
 he afterwards made in Congress in exposure of the mili- 
 tary pretensions of General Cass. However, in grim, sol- 
 dierly severity he marched with the Sangamon County con- 
 tingent to Rushville, in Schuyler County, where, much to 
 his surprise, he was elected captain of the company over 
 William Kirkpatrick. A recital of the campaign that fol- 
 lowed, in the effort to drive the treacherous Indians back, 
 or a description of the few engagements — none of which 
 reached the dignity of a battle — which took place, have in 
 no wise been overlooked by the historians of Illinois and 
 of the Black Hawk war. With the exception of those 
 things which relate to Lincoln alone I presume it would be 
 needless to attempt to add anything to what has so thor- 
 oughly and truthfully been told. 
 
 While at the rendezvous at Rushville and on the march 
 to the front Lincoln of course drilled his men, and gave 
 them such meagre instruction in military tactics as he could 
 impart. Some of the most grotesque things he ever related 
 were descriptions of these drills. In marching one morn- 
 ing at the head of the company, who were following in 
 lines of twenty abreast, it became necessary to pass through 
 a gate much narrower than the lines. The captain could 
 not remember the proper command to turn the company 
 endwise, and the situation was becoming decidedly em- 
 barrassing, when one of those thoughts born of the depths 
 of despair came to his rescue. Facing the lines he shouted : 
 "Halt ! This company w r ill break ranks for two minutes 
 
7o LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 and form again on the other side of the gate." The 
 manoeuvre was successfully executed. 2 
 
 On being elected captain, Lincoln replied in a brief re- 
 sponse of modest and thankful acceptance. It was the first 
 official trust ever turned over to his keeping, and he prized 
 it and the distinction it gave him more than any which in 
 after years fell to his lot. His company savored strongly 
 of the Clary's Grove order, and though daring enough in 
 the presence of danger, were difficult to bring down to the 
 inflexibilities of military discipline. Each one seemed 
 perfectly able and willing to care for himself, and while 
 the captain's authority was respectfully observed, yet, as 
 some have said, they were none the less a crowd of "gen- 
 erous ruffians." I heard Mr. Lincoln say once on the sub- 
 ject of his career as captain in this company and the 
 discipline he exercised over his men, that to the first order 
 given one of them he received the response, "Go to the 
 devil, sir !" Notwithstanding the interchange of many such 
 unsoldierlike civilities between the officer and his men, a 
 strong bond of affection united them together, and if a 
 contest had arisen over the conflict of orders between the 
 United States authorities and those emanating from Cap- 
 tain Lincoln or some other Illinois officer — as at one time 
 was threatened — we need not be told to which side the San- 
 gamon County company to a man would have gone. A 
 general order forbidding the discharge of firearms within 
 fifty yards of the camp was disobeyed by Captain Lincoln 
 himself. For this violation of rule he was placed under 
 arrest and deprived of his sword for a day. But this and 
 other punishments in no way humiliated him in the esteem 
 of his men; if anything, they only clung the closer, and 
 when Clary's Grove friendship asserted itself, it meant that 
 firm and generous attachment found alone on the fron- 
 tier — that bond, closer than the affinity of blood, which 
 becomes stronger as danger approaches death. 
 
 A soldier of the Sangamon County company broke into 
 the officers' quarters one night, and with the aid of a 
 tomahawk and four buckets, obtained by stealth a good 
 
 2 Original footnote. 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 79 
 
 supply of wines and liquors, which he generously distrib- 
 uted to his appreciative comrades. The next morning at 
 daybreak, when the army began to move, the Sangamon 
 County company, much to their captain's astonishment, 
 were unfit for the march. Their nocturnal expedition had 
 been too much for them, and one by one they fell by the 
 wayside, until but a mere handful remained to keep step 
 with their gallant and astounded captain. Those who fell 
 behind gradually overcame the effects of their carousal, 
 but were hard pressed to overtake the command, and it was 
 far into the night when the last one straggled into camp. 
 The investigation which followed resulted only in the 
 captain suffering the punishment for the more guilty men. 
 For this infraction of military law he was put under 
 arrest and made to carry a wooden sword for two days, 
 "and this too," as one of his company has since assured 
 me, "although he was entirely blameless in the matter." 
 
 Among the few incidents of Lincoln's career in the 
 Black Hawk war that have found a place in history was 
 his manly interference to protect an old Indian who 
 strayed, hungry and helpless, into camp one day, and whom 
 the soldiers were conspiring to kill on the ground that he 
 was a spy. A letter from General Cass, recommending 
 him for his past kind and faithful services to the whites, 
 which the trembling old savage drew from beneath the 
 folds of his blanket failed in any degree to appease the 
 wrath of the men who confronted him. They had come 
 out to fight the treacherous Indians, and here was one 
 who had the temerity even to steal into their camp. "Make 
 an example of him," they exclaimed. "The letter is a 
 forgery and he is a spy." They might have put their 
 threats into execution had not the tall form of their captain, 
 his face "swarthy with resolution and rage," interposed 
 itself between them and their defenseless victim. Lin- 
 coln's determined look and demand that "it must not be 
 done" were enough. They sullenly desisted, and the In- 
 dian, unmolested, continued on his way. 
 
 Lincoln's famous wrestling match with the redoubtable 
 Thompson, a soldier from Union County, who managed 
 
80 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 to throw him twice in succession, caused no diminution in 
 the admiration and pride his men felt in their captain's 
 muscle and prowess. They declared that unfair advantage 
 had been taken of their champion, that Thompson had 
 been guilty of foul tactics, and that, in the language of the 
 sporting arena, it was a "dog-fall." Lincoln's magnani- 
 mous action, however, in according his opponent credit 
 for fair dealing in the face of the wide-spread and adverse 
 criticism that prevailed, only strengthened him in the es- 
 teem of all. 
 
 William L. Wilson, a survivor of the war, in a letter 
 under date of February 3, 1882, after detailing reminis- 
 cences of Stillman's defeat, says : "I have during that time 
 had much fun with the afterwards President of the United 
 States, Abraham Lincoln. I remember one time of wres- 
 tling with him, two best in three, and ditched him. He was 
 not satisfied, and we tried it in a foot-race for a five- 
 dollar bill. I won the money, and 'tis spent long ago. 
 And many more reminiscences could I give, but am of the 
 Quaker persuasion, and not much given to writing." £ 
 
 At times the soldiers were hard pressed for food, but by 
 a combination of ingenuity and labor in proportions known 
 only to a volunteer soldier, they managed to avoid the 
 unpleasant results of long-continued and unsatisfied hun- 
 ger. "At an old Winnebago town called Turtle Village," 
 narrates a member of the company, "after stretching our 
 rations over nearly four days, one of our mess, an old 
 acquaintance of Lincoln, G. B. Fanchier, shot a dove, and 
 having a gill of flour left we made a gallon and a half of 
 delicious soup in an old tin bucket that had been lost by 
 Indians. This soup we divided among several messes that 
 were hungrier than we were and our own mess, by pouring 
 in each man's cup a portion of the esculent. Once more, 
 at another time, in the extreme northern part of Illinois, 
 we had been very hungry for two days, but suddenly came 
 upon a new cabin at the edge of the prairie that the pioneer 
 sovereign squatter family had vacated and 'skedaddled' 
 from for fear of losing their scalps. There were plenty of 
 
 3 Original footnote. 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 51 
 
 chickens about the cabin, much hungrier than we ourselves 
 were, if poverty is to test the matter, and the boys heard a 
 voice saying 'Slay and eat/ They at once went to running, 
 clubbing, and shooting them as long as they could be found. 
 Whilst the killing was going on I climbed to the ridge-pole 
 of the smoke-house to see distinctly what I saw obscurely 
 from the ground and behold! the cleanest, sweetest jole I 
 ever saw — alone, half hid by boards and ridge-pole, stuck 
 up no doubt for future use. By this time many of the 
 chickens were on the fire, broiling, for want of grease or 
 gravy to fry them in. Some practical fellow proposed to 
 throw in with the fowls enough bacon to convert broiling 
 into frying; the proposition was adopted, and they were 
 soon fried. We began to eat the tough, dry chickens with 
 alternating mouthfuls of the jole, when Lincoln came to the 
 repast with the query, 'Eating chicken, boys ?' 'Not much, 
 sir/ I responded, for we had operated principally on the 
 jole, it being sweeter and more palatable than the chickens. 
 'It is much like eating saddle-bags/ he responded ; 'but I 
 think the stomach can accomplish much today; but what 
 have you got there with the skeletons, George?' 'We did 
 have a sweet jole of a hog, sir/ I answered, 'but you are 
 nearly too late for your share/ at the same time making 
 room for him to approach the elm-bark dish. He ate the 
 bacon a moment, then commenced dividing by mouthfuls 
 to the boys from other messes, who came to 'see what Abe 
 was at/ and saying many quaint and funny things suited to 
 the time and the jole." The captain, it will be seen, by his 
 "freedom without familiarity" and his "courtesy without 
 condescension," was fast making inroads on the respect of 
 his rude but appreciative men. He was doubtless looking a 
 long way ahead, when both their friendship and respect 
 would be of avail, for as the chronicler last quoted from 
 continues : "He was acquainted with everybody, and he 
 had determined, as he told me, to become a candidate for 
 the next Legislature. The mess immediately pitched on 
 him as our standard-bearer, and he accepted." 
 
 The term for which the volunteers had enlisted had now 
 expired, and the majority, tiring of the service, the novelty 
 
82 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 of which had worn off, and longing for the comforts and 
 good cheer of their homes, refused either to re-enlist or 
 render further service. They turned their faces homeward, 
 each with his appetite for military glory well satiated. But 
 the war was not over, and the mighty Black Hawk was 
 still east of the Mississippi. A few remained and re- 
 enlisted. Among them was Lincoln. This time, eschew- 
 ing the responsibility of a captaincy, and to avoid the 
 possible embarrassment of dragging about camp a wooden 
 sword, he entered the company of Elijah lies as a dignified 
 private. It has pleased some of Mr. Lincoln's biographers 
 to attribute this re-enlistment to pure patriotism on his part 
 and a conscientious desire to serve his country. From 
 the standpoint of sentiment that is a comfortable view to 
 take of it; but I have strong reason to believe that Mr. 
 Lincoln never entertained such serious notions of the 
 campaign. In fact, I may say that my information comes 
 from the best authority to be had in the matter — the soldier 
 himself. Mr. Lincoln had no home; he had cut loose 
 from his parents, from the Hankses and the Johnstons; 
 he left behind him no anxious wife and children; and 
 no chair before a warm fireplace remained vacant for him. 
 "I was out of work," he said to me once, "and there being 
 no danger of more fighting, I could do nothing better 
 than enlist again." 
 
 [lies' company was mustered in by a young lieutenant of 
 the regular army, Robert Anderson. "It was made up of 
 generals, colonels, captains, and distinguished men from 
 the disbanded army," its captain later wrote. Attached 
 to what was known as 'the spy battalion/ it was held in 
 camp near the present city of Ottawa on the Illinois River 
 while the other companies were sent out to scout the coun- 
 try. 
 
 While Lincoln and his fellow-volunteers were thus pro- 
 saically serving out their second term, word came that all 
 communication with Galena had been cut off. lies and his 
 company were ordered there at once to reestablish contact 
 and locate the Indians if possible. They proceeded to the 
 present site of Dixon, where they found Colonel Zachary 
 Taylor in command. Continuing to Galena, they found the 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 83 
 
 inhabitants unharmed, though frightened. An uneventful 
 return trip consumed the balance of the time for which 
 they had enlisted. 
 
 On June 16 Lincoln enlisted for the third time. His 
 term of service was thirty days, and his rank a private in 
 the company of Captain Jacob M. Early. No fighting 
 marked his third enlistment, although he saw the result of 
 a sharp skirmish, and helped to bury five men whom the 
 Indians had scalped. "I remember just how those men 
 looked as we rode up the little hill where their camp was," 
 he later said. "The red light of the morning sun was 
 streaming upon them as they lay heads towards us on the 
 ground. And every man had a round, red spot on top of 
 his head, about as big as a dollar where the redskins had 
 taken his scalp. It was frightful, but it was grotesque, and 
 the red sunlight seemed to paint everything all over. I re- 
 member that one man had on buckskin breeches." 
 
 On July 16, 1832, Lincoln was mustered out at Black 
 River, Wisconsin. His horse had been stolen, so he was 
 compelled to return on foot and by canoe.] 
 
 After his discharge from this last and brief period of 
 service, along with the remainder of the Sangamon County 
 soldiers, he departed from the scenes of recent hostilities 
 for New Salem again. His soldier days had ended, and he 
 returned now to enter upon a far different career. How- 
 ever much in later years he may have pretended to ridicule 
 the disasters of the Black Hawk war, or the part he took 
 in it, yet I believe he was rather proud of it after all. 
 When Congress, along in the fifties, granted him a land 
 warrant he was greatly pleased. He located it on some 
 land in Iowa, and declared to me one day that he would die 
 seized of that land, and although the tract never yielded 
 him anything, he never, so far as my knowledge extends 
 parted with its ownership. 4 
 
 4 "Lincoln's land warrant under the Act of 1850, was No. 52076 
 for forty acres, issued April 16, 1852. The land was located 
 July 21, 1854, by Lincoln's attorney John P. Davies, at Dubuque, 
 Iowa, on the N. W. Quarter of S. W. Quarter of Sec. 20, Town- 
 ship 84 N. of Range 15 West. The patent to this tract, signed 
 by Franklin Pierce, was issued to Lincoln, June 1, 1855. 
 
 "The warrant under the Act of 1855 was No. 68645 for one 
 
84 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 The return of the Black Hawk warriors to New Salem 
 occurred in the month of August, but a short time before 
 the general election. A new Legislature was to be chosen, 
 and as Lincoln had declared to his comrades in the army 
 he would, and in obedience to the effusive declaration of 
 principles which he had issued over his signature in March, 
 before he went to the war, he presented himself to the 
 people of his newly adopted county as a candidate for the 
 Legislature. It is not necessary to enter into an account 
 of the political conditions in Illinois at that time, or the 
 effect had on the same by those who had in charge the 
 governmental machinery. Lincoln's course is all that in- 
 terests us. Though he may not have distinctly avowed 
 himself a Whig, yet, as one of his friends asserted, "he 
 stood openly on Whig principles. " He favored a national 
 bank, a liberal system of internal improvements, and a high 
 protective tariff. The handbill or circular alluded to an- 
 nouncing his candidacy was a sort of literary fulmination, 
 but on account of its length I deem it unnecessary to insert 
 the whole of it here. I have been told that it was prepared 
 by Lincoln, but purged of its most glaring grammatical 
 errors by James McNamar, who afterwards became Lin- 
 coln's rival in an important love affair. 5 
 
 hundred and twenty acres issued April 22, 1856, and located by 
 Lincoln himself at Springfield, Dec. 27, 1859, on the E. Half of 
 the N. E. Quarter and N. W. Quarter of N. E. Quarter of Sec. 
 18, Township 84 N. of Range 39 W. The patents to these tracts, 
 signed by James Buchanan, were issued to Lincoln Sept. 10, 1860, 
 in the midst of his campaign for the Presidency, and they were 
 sent to the Register of the Land Office at Springfield for de- 
 livery to Lincoln Oct. 30, a week before his election. Records 
 Gen. Land Office, Interior Dept., Washington. 
 
 "Lincoln owned this Iowa land when he was assassinated; it 
 descended to his heirs, and on March 22, 1892, was sold by 
 Robert T. Lincoln, the only surviving heir, for $13,000, to Henry 
 Edwards. Records Recorder's Office, Crawford County, Iowa." 
 Beveridge, Abraham Lincoln, I., p. 553n. 
 
 5 In a letter dated May 5, 1866, McNamar wrote Herndon: 
 "I corrected at his request some of the grammatical errors in 
 his first address to the voters of Sangamon County, his principal 
 hobby being the navigation of the Sangamon river." 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 85 
 
 The circular is dated March 9, 1832, and addressed to 
 the "People of Sangamon County." In it he takes up all 
 the leading questions of the day : railroads, river navigation, 
 internal improvements, and usury. He dwells particularly 
 on the matter of public education, alluding to it as the 
 most important subject before the people. Realizing his 
 own defects arising from a lack of school instruction he 
 contends that every man and his children, however poor, 
 should be permitted to obtain at least a moderate educa- 
 tion, and thereby be enabled "to read the Scriptures and 
 other works both of a moral and religious nature for them- 
 selves. " The closing paragraph was so constructed as to 
 appeal to the chivalrous sentiments of Clary's Grove. "I 
 was born and have ever remained," he declares, "in the 
 most humble walks of life. I have no wealthy or popular 
 relatives or friends to recommend me. My case is thrown 
 exclusively upon the independent voters of the county ; and 
 if elected they will have conferred a favor upon me for 
 which I shall be unremitting in my labors to compensate. 
 But if," he dryly concludes, "the good people in their 
 wisdom shall see fit to keep me in the background, I have 
 been too familiar with disappointments to be very much 
 chagrined." 
 
 The election being near at hand only a few days re- 
 mained for his canvass. One who was with him at the 
 time describing his appearance, says : "He wore a mixed 
 jeans coat, clawhammer style, short in the sleeves and bob- 
 tail — in fact it was so short in the tail he could not sit on 
 it ; flax and towlinen pantaloons, and a straw hat. I think 
 he wore a vest, but do not remember how it looked. He 
 wore pot-metal boots." His maiden effort on the stump 
 was a speech on the occasion of a public sale at Pappsville, 
 a village eleven miles west of Springfield. After the sale 
 was over and speechmaking had begun, a fight — a "general 
 fight," as one of the bystanders relates — ensued, and Lin- 
 coln, noticing one of his friends about to succumb to the 
 energetic attack of an infuriated ruffian, interposed to pre- 
 vent it. He did so most effectually. Hastily descending 
 from the rude platform he edged his way through the 
 
86 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 crowd, and seizing the bully by the neck and seat of his 
 trowsers, threw him by means of his strength and long 
 arms, as one witness stoutly insists, "twelve feet away." 
 Returning to the stand and throwing aside his hat he in- 
 augurated his campaign with the following brief but juicy 
 declaration : 
 
 "Fellow Citizens, I presume you all know who I am. I 
 am humble Abraham Lincoln. I have been solicited by 
 many friends to become a candidate for the Legislature. 
 My politics are short and sweet, like the old woman's dance. 
 I am in favor of a national bank. I am in favor of the 
 internal improvement system and a high protective tariff. 
 These are my sentiments and political principles. If elected 
 I shall be thankful ; if not it will be all the same." 
 
 I obtained this speech from A. Y. Ellis, who in 1865 
 wrote it out. Ellis was his friend and supporter, and took 
 no little interest in his canvass. "I accompanied him," 
 he relates, "on one of his electioneering trips to Island 
 Grove, and he made a speech which pleased his party 
 friends very well indeed, though some of the Jackson men 
 tried to make sport of it. He told several anecdotes, and 
 applied them, as I thought, very well. He also told the 
 boys several stories which drew them after him. I re- 
 member them, but modesty and my veneration for his 
 memory forbid me to relate them." His story-telling 
 propensity, and the striking fitness of his yarns — many 
 of them being of the bar-room order — in illustrating public 
 questions, as we shall see further along in these chapters, 
 was really one of the secrets of his popularity and strength. 
 
 [Stephen T. Logan first saw Lincoln when he came to 
 Springfield to make a speech during this campaign. "He 
 was a very tall and gawky and rough looking fellow then," 
 he wrote, "his pantaloons didn't meet his shoes by six 
 inches. But after he began speaking I became very much 
 interested in him. He made a very sensible speech. It was 
 the time when Benton was running his theory of a gold 
 circulation. Lincoln was attacking Benton's theory and I 
 thought did it very well. . . . The manner of Mr. Lin- 
 coln's speech then was very much the same as his speeches 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 87 
 
 in after life — that is the same peculiar characteristics were 
 apparent then, though of course in after years he evinced 
 both more knowledge and experience. But he had then the 
 same novelty and the same peculiarity in presenting his 
 ideas. He had the same individuality that he kept through 
 all his life. ... In the election of 1832 he made a very 
 considerable impression upon me as well as upon other 
 people."] 
 
 The election, as he had predicted, resulted in his de- 
 feat — the only defeat, as he himself afterward stated, that 
 he ever suffered at the hands of the people. But there was 
 little defeat in it after all. Out of the eight unsuccessful 
 candidates he stood third from the head of the list, re- 
 ceiving 657 votes. Five others received less. The most 
 gratifying feature of it all was the hearty support of his 
 neighbors at New Salem. Of the entire 208 votes in the 
 precinct he received every one save three. 6 
 
 It may not be amiss to explain the cause of this remark- 
 able endorsement of Lincoln by the voters in New Salem. 
 It arose chiefly from his advocacy of the improvement of 
 the Sangamon River. He proposed the digging of a canal 
 a few miles east of the point where the Sangamon enters 
 the Illinois River, thereby giving the former two mouths. 
 This, he explained to the farmers, would prevent the ac- 
 cumulation of back-water and consequent overflow of 
 their rich alluvial bottom lands in the spring. It would also 
 avert the sickness and evil results of stagnant pools, which 
 formed in low places after the high waters receded. His 
 scheme — that is the name by which it would be known 
 today — commended itself to the judgment of his neigh- 
 bors, and the flattering vote he received shows how they 
 endorsed it. 
 
 The unsuccessful result of the election did not dampen 
 
 6 The figures given in this paragraph are not strictly accurate. 
 Lincoln received 657 votes, but his vote ranked fourth among 
 that of nine unsuccessful candidates. As to his strength in New 
 Salem, Lincoln himself said : "His own precinct, however, cast- 
 ing its votes 277 for and 7 against him — and that, too, while 
 he was avowed Clay man, and the precinct the autumn afterward 
 giving a majority of 115 to General Jackson over Mr. Clay." 
 
88 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 his hopes nor sour his ambition. The extensive acquaint- 
 ance, the practice in public speaking, the confidence gained 
 with the people, together with what was augmented in 
 himself, made a surplus of capital on which he was free to 
 draw and of which he afterwards frequently availed him- 
 self. The election being over, however, he found himself 
 without money, though with a goodly supply of experience, 
 drifting again. His political experience had forever 
 weaned him from the dull routine of common labor. Labor 
 afforded him no time for study and no incentive to prof- 
 itable reflection. What he seemed to want was som£ 
 lighter work, employment in a store or tavern where he 
 could meet the village celebrities, exchange views with 
 strangers, discuss politics, horse-races, cock-fights, and 
 narrate to listening loafers his striking and significant 
 stories. In the communties where he had lived, the village 
 storekeeper held undisturbed sway. He took the only 
 newspaper, owned the only collection of books and half the 
 property in the village ; and in general was the social, and 
 oftentimes the political head of the community. Naturally, 
 therefore the prominence the store gave the merchant at- 
 tracted Lincoln. But there seemed no favorable opening 
 for him — clerks in New Salem were not in demand just 
 then. 
 
 My cousins, Rowan and James Herndon, were at that 
 time operating a store, and tiring of their investment 
 and the confinement it necessitated, James sold his interest 
 to an idle, shiftless fellow named William Berry. Soon 
 after Rowan disposed of his to Lincoln. That the latter, 
 who was without means and in search of work, could suc- 
 ceed to the ownership of even a half interest in a concern 
 where but a few days before he would in all probability 
 gladly have exchanged his services for his board, doubtless 
 seems strange to the average young business man of to- 
 day. I once asked Rowan Herndon what induced him to 
 make such liberal terms in dealing with Lincoln, whom he 
 had known for so short a time. 
 
 "I believed he was thoroughly honest, ,, was the reply, 
 "and that impression was so strong in me I accepted his 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 89 
 
 note in payment of the whole. He had no money, but I 
 would have advanced him still more had he asked for it." 
 
 Lincoln and Berry had been installed in business but a 
 short time until one Reuben Radford, the proprietor of 
 another New Salem grocery, who, happening to incur the 
 displeasure of the Clary's Grove boys, decided suddenly 
 one morning, in the commercial language of later days, 
 to "retire from business." A visit by night of the Clary's 
 Grove contingent always hastened any man's retirement 
 from business. The windows were driven in, and pos- 
 session taken of the stock without either ceremony or in- 
 ventory. If, by break of day, the unfortunate proprietor 
 found any portion of his establishment standing where he 
 left it the night before, he might count himself lucky. In 
 Radford's case, fearing "his bones might share the fate 
 of his windows," he disposed of his stock and good-will 
 to William Greene for a consideration of four hundred 
 dollars. The latter employed Lincoln to make an inventory 
 of the goods, and when completed, the new merchant, 
 seeing in it something of a speculation, offered Greene an 
 advance of two hundred and fifty dollars on his invest- 
 ment. The offer was accepted, and the stock and fixtures 
 passed into the ownership and control of the now en- 
 terprising firm of Lincoln & Berry. They subsequently 
 absorbed the remnant of a store belonging to one Rutledge, 
 which last transaction cleared the field of all competitors 
 and left them in possession of the only mercantile concern 
 in New Salem. 7 
 
 To effect these sales not a cent of money was required — 
 the buyer giving the seller his note and the latter assigning 
 it to someone else in another trade. Berry gave his note 
 to James Herndon, Lincoln his to Rowan Herndon, while 
 Lincoln & Berry as a firm, executed their obligation to 
 Greene, Radford, and Rutledge in succession. Surely 
 Wall Street at no time in its history has furnished a brace 
 of speculators who in so brief a period accomplished so 
 much and with so little money. A few weeks only were 
 
 7 Lincoln and Berry never acquired the store of Hill and 
 McNamar at New Salem. 
 
90 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 sufficient to render apparent Lincoln's ill adaptation to the 
 requirements of a successful business career. Once in- 
 stalled behind the counter he gave himself up to reading 
 and study, depending for the practical management of the 
 business on his partner. A more unfortunate selection than 
 Berry could not have been found; for, while Lincoln at 
 one end of the store was dispensing political information, 
 Berry at the other was disposing of the firm's liquors, be- 
 ing the best customer for that article of merchandise him- 
 self. To put it more plainly, Lincoln's application to 
 Shakespeare and Burns was only equalled by Berry's at- 
 tention to spigot and barrel. That the latter in the end 
 succeeded in squandering a good portion of their joint 
 assets, besides wrecking his own health, is not to be won- 
 dered at. By the spring of 1833 they, like their predeces- 
 sors, were ready to retire. Two brothers named Trent 
 coming along, they sold to them on the liberal terms then 
 prevalent the business and the good-will ; but before the 
 latter's notes fell due, they in turn had failed and fled. 
 The death of Berry following soon after, released him 
 from the payment of any notes or debts, and thus Lincoln 
 was left to meet the unhonored obligations of the ill-fated 
 partnership, or avoid their payment by dividing the re- 
 sponsibility and pleading the failure of the business. That 
 he assumed all the liability and set resolutely to work to 
 pay everything, was strictly in keeping with his fine sense 
 of honor and justice. He was a long time meeting these 
 claims, even as late as 1848 sending to me from Wash- 
 ington portions of his salary as Congressman to be ap- 
 plied on the unpaid remnant of the Berry & Lincoln in- 
 debtedness — but in time he extinguished it all, even to the 
 last penny. 
 
 Conscious of his many shortcomings as a merchant, and 
 undaunted by the unfortunate complications from which 
 he had just been released, Lincoln returned to his books. 
 Rowan Herndon, with whom he had been living, having 
 removed to the country, he became for the first time a 
 sojourner at the tavern, as it was then called — a public- 
 house kept by Rutledge, Onstatt, and Alley in succession. 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 91 
 
 "It was a small log house/' he explained to me in later 
 years, "covered with clapboards, and contained four 
 rooms/' It was second only in importance to the store, 
 for there he had the opportunity of meeting passing strang- 
 ers — lawyers and others from the county seat, whom he 
 frequently impressed with his knowledge as well as wit. 
 He had, doubtless, long before determined to prepare 
 himself for the law ; in fact, had begun to read Blackstone 
 while in the store, and now went at it with renewed zeal. 
 He borrowed law-books of his former comrade in the 
 Black Hawk war, John T. Stuart, who was practicing 
 law in Springfield, frequently walking there to return one 
 and borrow another. His determination to master any 
 subject he undertook and his application to study were of 
 the most intense order. On the road to and from Spring- 
 field he would read and recite from the book he carried 
 open in his hand, and claimed to have mastered forty 
 pages of Blackstone during the first day after his return 
 from Stuart's office. At New Salem he frequently sat 
 barefooted under the shade of a tree near the store, poring 
 over a volume of Chitty or Blackstone, sometimes lying 
 on his back, putting his feet up the tree, which provokes 
 one of his biographers to denote the latter posture as one 
 which might have been "unfavorable to mental application, 
 in the case of a man with shorter extremities/' 
 
 [Lincoln himself ascribed his decision to study law to 
 Stuart's influence. Writing of his defeat in 1832 he said, 
 "He studied what he should do — thought of learning the 
 blacksmith trade — thought of trying to study law — rather 
 thought he could not succeed at that without a better 
 education." Makeshifts provided the means of livelihood 
 until 1834, when Lincoln was elected to the legislature. 
 "Major John T. Stuart, then in full practice of the law, 
 was also elected. During the canvass, in a private con- 
 versation he encouraged Abraham to study law. After 
 the election he borrowed books of Stuart, took them home 
 with him, and went at it in good earnest. He studied 
 with nobody. He still mixed in the surveying to pay 
 board and clothing bills. When the legislature met, the 
 
92 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 law-books were dropped, but were taken up again at the end 
 of the session."] 
 
 That Lincoln's attempt to make a lawyer of himself 
 under such adverse and unpromising circumstances excited 
 comment is not to be wondered at. Russell Godby, an old 
 man who still survives, told me in 1865, that he had often 
 employed Lincoln to do farm work for him, and was sur- 
 prised to find him one day sitting barefoot on the sum- 
 mit of a woodpile and attentively reading a book. "This 
 being an unusual thing for farm hands in that early day 
 to do, I asked him," relates Godby, "what he was reading. 
 Tm not reading,' he answered. T'm studying.' 'Study- 
 ing what?' I enquired. 'Law, sir/ was the emphatic re- 
 sponse. It was really too much for me, as I looked at 
 him sitting there proud as Cicero. 'Great God Almighty!' 
 I exclaimed, and passed on." 
 
 But Lincoln kept on at his studies. Wherever he was 
 and whenever he could do so the book was brought into 
 use. He carried it with him in his rambles through the 
 woods and his walks to the river. When night came he 
 read it by the aid of any friendly light he could find. 
 Frequently he went down to the cooper's shop and kindled 
 a fire out of the waste material lying about, and by the 
 light afforded read until far into the night. 
 
 One of his companions at this time relates that, "while 
 clerking in the store or serving as postmaster he w r ould 
 apply himself as opportunity offered to his studies, if it 
 was but five minutes time — would open his book which 
 he always kept at hand, study it, reciting to himself ; then 
 entertain the company present or wait on a customer with- 
 out apparent annoyance from the interruption. Have fre- 
 quently seen him reading while walking along the streets. 
 Occasionally he would become absorbed with his book; 
 would stop and stand for a few moments, then walk on, 
 or pass from one house to another or from one crow T d or 
 squad of men to another. He was apparently seeking 
 amusement, and with his thoughtful face and ill-fitting 
 clothes was the last man one would have singled out for 
 a student. If the company he was in was unappreciative, 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 93 
 
 or their conversation at all irksome, he would open his 
 book and commune with it for a time, until a happy 
 thought suggested itself and then the book would again 
 return to its wonted resting-place under his arm. He 
 never appeared to be a hard student, as he seemed to mas- 
 ter his studies with little effort, until he commenced the 
 study of the law. In that he became wholly engrossed, 
 and began for the first time to avoid the society of men, 
 in order that he might have more time for study. He was 
 not what is usually termed a quick-minded man, although 
 he would usually arrive at his conclusions very readily. 
 He seemed invariably to reflect and deliberate, and never 
 acted from impulse so far as to force a wrong conclusion 
 on a subject of any moment." 
 
 It was not long until he was able to draw up deeds, con- 
 tracts, mortgages, and other legal papers for his neigh- 
 bors. He figured conspicuously as a pettifogger before 
 the justice of the peace, but regarding it merely as a kind 
 of preliminary practice, seldom made any charge for his 
 services. Meanwhile he was reading not only law books 
 but natural philosophy and other scientific subjects. He 
 was a careful and patient reader of newspapers, the San- 
 gamon Journal — published at Springfield — Louisville Jour- 
 nal, St. Louis Republican, and Cincinnati Gazette being 
 usually within his reach. He paid a less degree of atten- 
 tion to historical works, although he read Rollin and Gib- 
 bon while in business with Berry. He had a more pro- 
 nounced fondness for fictitious literature, and read with 
 evident relish Mrs. Lee Hentz's novels, which were very 
 popular books in that day, and which were kindly loaned 
 by his friend A. Y. Ellis. The latter was a prosperous 
 and shrewd young merchant who had come up from 
 Springfield and taken quite a fancy to Lincoln. The two 
 slept together and Lincoln frequently assisted him in the 
 store. He says that Lincoln was fond of short, spicy 
 stories one and two columns long, and cites as specimens, 
 "Cousin Sally Dillard," "Becky William's Courtship," 
 "The Down-Easter and the Bull," and others, the very 
 titles suggesting the character of the productions. He re- 
 
94 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 membered everything he read, and could afterwards with- 
 out apparent difficulty relate it. In fact, Mr. Lincoln's 
 fame as a story-teller spread far and wide. Men quoted 
 his sayings, repeated his jokes, and in remote places he was 
 known as a story-teller before he was heard of either as 
 lawyer or politician. 
 
 It has been denied as often as charged that Lincoln 
 narrated vulgar stories ; but the truth is he loved a story 
 however extravagant or vulgar, if it had a good point. If 
 it was merely a ribald recital and had no sting in the end, 
 that is, if it exposed no weakness or pointed no moral, 
 he had no use for it either in conversation or public speech ; 
 but if it had the neccessary ingredients of mirth and moral 
 no one could use it with more telling effect. As a mimic 
 he was unequalled, and with his characteristic gestures, 
 he built up a reputation for story-telling — although fully 
 as many of his narratives were borrowed as original — 
 which followed him through life. One who listened to his 
 early stories in New Salem says: "His laugh was strik- 
 ing. Such awkward gestures belonged to no other man. 
 They attracted universal attention, from the old sedate 
 down to the schoolboy. Then in a few moments he was 
 as calm and thoughtful as a judge on the bench, and as 
 ready to give advice on the most important matters; fun 
 and gravity grew on him alike." 
 
 Lincoln's lack of musical adaptation has deprived us of 
 many a song. For a ballad or doggerel he sometimes had 
 quite a liking. He could memorize or recite the lines but 
 some one else had to do the singing. Listen to one in 
 which he shows "How St. Patrick Came to be Born on the 
 17th of March/' Who composed it or where Lincoln ob- 
 tained it I have never been able to learn. Ellis says he 
 often inflicted it on the crowds who collected in his store 
 of winter evenings. Here it is : 
 
 "The first factional fight in old Ireland, they say, 
 Was all on account of Saint Patrick's birthday, 
 It was somewhere about midnight without any doubt, 
 And certain it is, it made a great rout. 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 95 
 
 On the eighth day of March, as some people say, 
 St. Patrick at midnight he first saw the day ; 
 While others assert 'twas the ninth he was born — 
 'Twas all a mistake — between midnight and morn. 
 
 Some blamed the baby, some blamed the clock; 
 Some blamed the doctor, some the crowing cock. 
 With all these close questions sure no one could know, 
 Whether the babe was too fast or the clock was too slow. 
 
 Some fought for the eighth, for the ninth some would die; 
 He who wouldn't see right would have a black eye. 
 At length these two factions so positive grew, 
 They each had a birthday, and Pat he had two. 
 
 Till Father Mulcahay who showed them their sins, 
 He said none could have two birthdays but as twins. 
 'Now Boys, don't be fighting for the eight or the nine 
 Don't quarrel so always, now why not combine.' 
 
 Combine eight with nine. It is the mark ; 
 
 Let that be the birthday. Amen ! said the clerk. 
 
 So all got blind drunk, which completed their bliss, 
 
 And they've kept up the practice from that day to this." 
 
 As a salesman, Lincoln was lamentably deficient. He 
 was too prone to lead off into a discussion of politics or 
 morality, leaving someone else to finish the trade which he 
 had undertaken. One of his employers says : "He always 
 disliked to wait on the ladies, preferring, he said, to wait 
 on the men and boys. I also remember he used to sleep 
 on the store counter when they had too much company at 
 the tavern. He wore flax and towlinen pantaloons — I 
 thought about five inches too short in the legs — and fre- 
 quently had but one suspender, no vest or coat. He wore 
 a calico shirt, such as he had in the Black Hawk war; 
 coarse brogans, tan color ; blue yarn socks and straw hat, 
 old style, and without a band." His friend Ellis attributed 
 his shyness in the presence of ladies to the consciousness 
 of his awkward appearance and the unpretentious condi- 
 tion of his wearing apparel. It was more than likely due 
 to pure bashfulness. "On one occasion/' continues Ellis, 
 
96 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 "while we boarded at the tavern, there came a family con- 
 sisting of an old lady, her son, and three stylish daugh- 
 ters, from the State of Virginia, who stopped there for 
 two or three weeks, and during their stay I do not re- 
 member of Mr. Lincoln's ever appearing at the same 
 table with them." 
 
 As a society man, Lincoln was singularly deficient while 
 he lived in New Salem, and even during the remainder of 
 his life. He never indulged in gossip about the ladies., 
 nor aided in the circulation of village scandal. For wo- 
 men he had a high regard, and I can testify that during 
 my long acquaintaince with him his conversation was free 
 from injurious comment in individual cases — freer from 
 unpleasant allusions than that of most men. At one time 
 Major Hill charged him with making defamatory remarks 
 regarding his wife. Hill was insulting in his language to 
 Lincoln who never lost his temper. When he saw a chance 
 to edge a word in, Lincoln denied emphatically using the 
 language or anything like that attributed to him. He en- 
 tertained, he insisted, a high regard for Mrs. Hill, and 
 the only thing he knew to her discredit was the fact that 
 she was Major Hill's wife. 
 
 At this time in its brief history New Salem was what 
 in the parlance of large cities would be called a fast place; 
 and it was difficult for a young man of ordinary moral 
 courage to resist the temptations that beset him on every 
 hand. It remains a matter of surprise that Lincoln was 
 able to retain his popularity with the hosts of young men 
 of his own age, and still not join them in their drinking 
 bouts and carousals. "I am certain," contends one of 
 his companions (A. Y. Ellis), "that he never drank any in- 
 toxicating liquors — he did not even in those days smoke or 
 chew tobacco." In sports requiring either muscle or skill 
 he took no little interest. He indulged in all the games of 
 the day, even to a horse-race or cock-fight. At one eventful 
 chicken fight, where a fee of twenty-five cents for the 
 entrance of each fowl was assessed, one Bap. McNabb 
 brought a little red rooster, whose fighting qualities had 
 been well advertised for days in advance by his owner. 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 97 
 
 Much interest was naturally taken in the contest. As the 
 outcome of these contests was generally a quarrel, in which 
 each man, charging foul play, seized his victim, they chose 
 Lincoln umpire, relying not only on his fairness but his 
 ability to enforce his decisions. In relating what followed 
 I cannot improve on the description furnished me in Feb- 
 ruary, 1865, by Ellis, who was present. 
 
 "They formed a ring, and the time having arrived, 
 Lincoln, with one hand on each hip and in a squatting 
 position, cried, 'Ready/ Into the ring they toss their 
 fowls, Bap.'s red rooster along with the rest. But no 
 sooner had the little beauty discovered what was to be 
 done than he dropped his tail and ran. The crowd cheered, 
 while Bap. in disappointment picked him up and started 
 away, losing his quarter and carrying home his dishonored 
 fowl. Once arrived at the latter place he threw his pet 
 down with a feeling of indignation and chagrin. The 
 little fellow, out of sight of all rivals, mounted a wood 
 pile and proudly flirting out his feathers, crowed with all 
 his might. Bap. looked on in disgust. 'Yes, you little 
 cuss,' he exclaimed, irreverently, 'you're great on dress 
 parade, but not worth a d — n in a fight'." It is said — 
 how truthfully I do not know — that at some period during 
 the late war Mr. Lincoln in conversation with a friend 
 likened McClellan to Bap. McNabb's rooster. So much 
 for New Salem sports. 
 
 While wooing that jealous-eyed mistress, the law, Lin- 
 coln was earning no money. As another has said, "he had 
 a running board bill to pay, and nothing to pay it with." 
 By dint of sundry jobs here and there, helping Ellis in his 
 store today, splitting rails for James Short tomorrow, he 
 managed to keep his head above the waves. His friends 
 were firm — no young man ever had truer or better ones — 
 but he was of too independent a turn to appeal to them 
 or complain of his condition. He never at any time aban- 
 doned the idea of becoming a lawyer. That was always a 
 spirit which beckoned him on in the darkest hour of his 
 adversity. Someone, probably a Democrat who voted for 
 him in the preceding fall, recommended him to John Cal- 
 
98 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 houn, then surveyor of the county, as suitable material 
 for an assistant. This office, in view of the prevailing 
 speculation in lands and town lots, was the most important 
 and possibly the most profitable in the county. Calhoun, 
 the incumbent, was a Yankee and a typical gentleman. He 
 was brave, intellectual, self-possessed, and cultivated. He 
 had been educated for the law, but never practiced much 
 after coming to Illinois — taught school in preference. As 
 an instructor he was the popular one of his day and age. 
 I attended the school he taught when I was a boy, in 
 Springfield, and was in later years clerk of the city under 
 his administration as Mayor. Lincoln, I know, respected 
 and admired him. After Lincoln's removal to Spring- 
 field they frequently held joint debates on political ques- 
 tions. At one time I remember they discussed the tariff 
 question in the court house, using up the better part of 
 two evenings in the contest. Calhoun was polite, affable, 
 and an honest debater, never dodging any question. This 
 made him a formidable antagonist in argumentative con- 
 troversy. I have heard Lincoln say that Calhoun gave 
 him more trouble in his debates than Douglas ever did, 
 because he was more captivating in his manner and a 
 more learned man than Douglas. 
 
 But to resume. The recommendation of Lincoln's 
 friends was sufficient to induce Calhoun to appoint him one 
 of his deputies. At the time he received notice of his 
 selection by Calhoun, Lincoln was out in the woods near 
 New Salem splitting rails. A friend named Pollard Sim- 
 mons, who still survives and has related the incident to 
 me, walked out to the point where he was working with 
 the cheering news. Lincoln, being a Whig and knowing 
 Calhoun's pronounced Democratic tendencies, inquired if 
 he had to sacrifice any principle in accepting the position. 
 "If I can be perfectly free in my political action I will take 
 the office," he remarked; "but if my sentiments or even 
 expression of them is to be abridged in any way I would 
 not have it or any other office." A young man hampered 
 by poverty as Lincoln was at this time, who had the cour- 
 age to deal with public office as he did, was certainly made 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 99 
 
 of unalloyed material. No wonder in after years when he 
 was defeated by Douglas he could inspire his friends by 
 the admonition not to "give up after one nor one hun- 
 dred defeats." 
 
 After taking service with Calhoun, Lincoln found he 
 had but little if any practical knowledge of surveying — 
 all that had to be learned. Calhoun furnished him with 
 books, directing him to study them till he felt competent 
 to begin work. He again invoked the assistance of Mentor 
 Graham, the schoolmaster, who aided him in his efforts at 
 calculating the results of surveys and measurements. 
 Lincoln was not a mathematician by nature, and hence, 
 with him, learning meant labor. Graham's daughter is 
 authority for the statement that her father and Lincoln 
 frequently sat up till midnight engrossed in calculations, 
 and only ceased when her mother drove them out after a 
 fresh supply of wood for the fire. Meanwhile Lincoln was 
 keeping up his law studies. "He studied to see the subject- 
 matter clearly," says Graham, "and to express it truly and 
 strongly. I have known him to study for hours the best 
 way of three to express an idea." He was so studious and 
 absorbed in his application at one time, that his friends, 
 according to a statement made by one of them (Henry 
 McHenry), "noticed that he was so emaciated we feared 
 he might bring on mental derangement." It was not long, 
 however, until he had mastered surveying as a study, and 
 then he was sent out to work by his superior — Calhoun. 
 It has never been' denied that his surveys were exact and 
 just, and he was so manifestly fair that he was often 
 chosen to settle disputed questions of corners and meas- 
 urements. It is worthy of note here that, with all his 
 knowledge of lands and their value and the opportunities 
 that lay open to him for profitable and safe investments, 
 he never made use of the information thus obtained from 
 official sources, nor made a single speculation on his own 
 account. 8 The high value he placed on public office was 
 
 8 In 1836 Lincoln had acquired three pieces of property : a 47 
 acre tract on the north bank of the Sangamon River in what 
 was then the northern part of Sangamon County, and two Spring- 
 
100 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 more fully emphasized when as President, in answer to a 
 delegation of gentlemen who called to press the claims of 
 one of his warm personal friends for an important office, 
 he declined on the ground that "he did not regard it as just 
 to the public to pay the debts of personal friendship with 
 offices that belonged to the people. ,, 
 
 As surveyor under Calhoun he was sent for at one time 
 to decide or locate a disputed corner for some persons 
 in the northern part of the county. Among others inter- 
 ested was his friend and admirer Henry McHenry. "After 
 a good deal of disputing we agreed," says the latter, "to 
 send for Lincoln and to abide by his decision. He came 
 with compass, flag-staff, and chain. He stopped with me 
 three or four days and surveyed the whole section. When 
 in the neighborhood of the disputed corner by actual sur- 
 vey he called for his staff and driving it in the ground at 
 a certain spot said, 'Gentlemen, here is the corner.' We 
 dug down into the ground at the point indicated and, lo ! 
 there we found about six or eight inches of the original 
 stake sharpened at the end, and beneath which was the 
 usual piece of charcoal placed there by Rector the surveyor 
 who laid the ground off for the government many years 
 before." So fairly and well had the young surveyor done 
 his duty that all parties went away completely satisfied. As 
 late as 1865 the corner was preserved by a mark and 
 pointed out to strangers as an evidence of the young 
 surveyor's skill. Russell Godby, mentioned in the earlier 
 pages of this chapter, presented to me a certificate of sur- 
 vey given to him by Lincoln. It was written January 14, 
 1834, and is signed "J. Calhoun, S. S. C, by A. Lincoln." 
 "The survey was made by Lincoln," says Godby, "and I 
 gave him as pay for his work two buckskins, which Hannah 
 
 field town lots. In the spring of 1837 he sold one of the town 
 lots for $75.00— he had paid $50.00 for both of them— and it 
 is likely that he sold the second at about the same time, though 
 the sale was not recorded. On May 9, 1837, he gave a quit-claim 
 deed to the 47 acre tract for a consideration of $30.00. For a 
 complete summary of Lincoln's land holdings and investments 
 see Bulletins 16 and 17, The Abraham Lincoln Association. 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN IOI 
 
 Armstrong 'foxed' on his pants so that the briers would 
 not wear them out." 
 
 Honors were now crowding thick and fast upon him. 
 On May 7, 1833, he was commissioned postmaster at New 
 Salem, the first office he ever held under the Federal 
 Government. The salary was proportionate to the amount 
 of business done. Whether Lincoln solicited the appoint- 
 ment himself, or whether it was given him without the 
 asking, I do not know; but certain it is his "administra- 
 tion" gave general satisfaction. The mail arrived once a 
 week, and we can imagine the extent of time and labor 
 required to distribute it, when it is known that "he carried 
 the office around in his hat." Mr. Lincoln used to tell me 
 that when he had a call to go to the country to survey 
 a piece of land, he placed inside his hat all the letters be- 
 longing to people in the neighborhood and distributed thern 
 along the way. He made head-quarters in Samuel Hill's 
 store, and there the office may be said to have been located, 
 as Hill himself had been postmaster before Lincoln. Be- 
 tween the revenue derived from the post-office and his 
 income from land surveys Lincoln was, in the expressive 
 language of the day, "getting along well enough." Sud- 
 denly, however, smooth sailing ceased and all his prospects 
 of easy times ahead were again brought to naught. One 
 Van Bergen brought suit against him and obtained judg- 
 ment on one of the notes given in payment of the store 
 debt — a relic of the unfortunate partnership with Berry. 
 His personal effects were levied on and sold, his horse and 
 surveying instruments going with the rest. But again a 
 friend, one James Short, whose favor he had gained, inter- 
 posed ; bought in the property and restored it to the hope- 
 less young surveyor. It will be seen now what kind of 
 friends Lincoln was gaining. The bonds he was thus 
 making were destined to stand the severest of tests. His 
 case never became so desperate but a friend came out of 
 the darkness to relieve him. 
 
 There was always something about Lincoln in his earlier 
 days to encourage his friends. He was not only grateful for 
 
102 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 whatever aid was given him, but he always longed to help 
 someone else. He had an unfailing disposition to succor 
 the weak and the unfortunate, and always, in his sympathy, 
 struggling with the under dog in the fight. He was once 
 overtaken when about fourteen miles from Springfield by 
 one Chandler, whom he knew slightly, and who, having 
 already driven twenty miles, was hastening to reach the 
 land office before a certain other man who had gone by a 
 different road. Chandler explained to Lincoln that he was 
 poor and wanted to enter a small tract of land which ad- 
 joined his, that another man of considerable wealth had 
 also determined to have it, and had mounted his horse and 
 started for Springfield. "Meanwhile, my neighbors," con- 
 tinued Chandler, "collected and advanced me the necessary 
 one hundred dollars, and now, if I can reach the land 
 office first, I can secure the land." Lincoln noticed that 
 Chandler's horse was too much fatigued to stand fourteen 
 miles more of a forced march, and he therefore dismounted 
 from his own and turned him over to Chandler, saying, 
 "Here's my horse — he is fresh and full of grit ; there's no 
 time to be lost ; mount him and put through. When you 
 reach Springfield put him up at Herndon's tavern and 
 I'll call and get him." Thus encouraged Chandler moved 
 on, leaving Lincoln to follow on the jaded animal. He 
 reached Springfield over an hour in advance of his rival 
 and thus secured the coveted tract of land. By nightfall 
 Lincoln rode leisurely into town and was met by the now 
 radiant Chandler, jubilant over his success. Between the 
 two a friendship sprang up which all the political discords 
 of twenty-five years never shattered nor strained. 
 
 About this time Lincoln began to extend somewhat his 
 system — if he really ever had a system in anything — of 
 reading. He now began to read the writings of Paine, 
 Volney, and Voltaire. A good deal of religious skepticism 
 existed at New Salem, and there were frequent discussions 
 at the store and tavern, in which Lincoln took part. What 
 views he entertained on religious questions will be more 
 fully detailed in another place. 
 
 No little of Lincoln's influence with the men of New 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN IO3 
 
 Salem can be attributed to his extraordinary feats of 
 strength. By an arrangement of ropes and straps, har- 
 nessed about his hips, he was enabled one day at the mill 
 to astonish a crowd of village celebrities by lifting a box 
 of stones weighing near a thousand pounds. There is no 
 fiction either, as suggested by some of his biographers, in 
 the story that he lifted a barrel of whisky from the ground 
 and drank from the bung; but in performing this latter 
 almost incredible feat he did not stand erect and elevate 
 the barrel, but squatted down and lifted it to his knees, 
 rolling it over until his mouth came opposite the bung. 
 His strength, kindness of manner, love of fairness and 
 justice, his original and unique sayings, his power of 
 mimicry, his perseverance — all made a combination rarely 
 met with on the frontier. Nature had burnt him in her 
 holy fire, and stamped him with the seal of her greatness. 
 In the summer of 1834 Lincoln determined to make an- 
 other race for the legislature; but this time he ran dis- 
 tinctly as a Whig. He made, it is presumed, the usual 
 number of speeches, but as the art of newspaper reporting 
 had not reached the perfection it has since attained, we 
 are not favored with even the substance of his efforts on 
 the stump. I have Lincoln's word for it that it was more 
 of a hand-shaking campaign than anything else. Rowan 
 Herndon relates that he came to his house during harvest, 
 when there were a large number of men at work in the 
 field. He was introduced to them, but they did not hesitate 
 to apprize him of their esteem for a man who could labor ; 
 and their admiration for a candidate for office was gauged 
 somewhat by the amount of work he could do. Learning 
 these facts, Lincoln took hold of a cradle, and handling it 
 with ease and remarkable speed, soon distanced those who 
 undertook to follow him. The men were satisfied, and it 
 is presumed he lost no votes in that crowd. One Dr. 
 Barrett, seeing Lincoln, inquired of the latter's friends : 
 "Can't the party raise any better material than that?" but 
 after hearing his speech the doctor's opinion was con- 
 siberably altered, for he declared that Lincoln filled him 
 with amazement; "that he knew more than all of the other 
 
104 LIFE 0F LINCOLN 
 
 candidates put together. " The election took place in Au- 
 gust. Lincoln's friend, John T. Stuart, was also a candi- 
 date on the legislative ticket. He encouraged Lincoln's 
 canvass in every way, even at the risk of sacrificing his own 
 chances. But both were elected. The four successful 
 candidates were Dawson, who received 1390 votes, Lincoln 
 1376, Carpenter 1170, and Stuart 1164. 
 
 At last Lincoln had been elected to the legislature, and 
 by a very flattering majority. In order, as he himself said, 
 "to make a decent appearance in the legislature," he had to 
 borrow money to buy suitable clothing and to maintain 
 his new dignity. Coleman Smoot, one of his friends, ad- 
 vanced him "two hundred dollars, which he returned, re- 
 lates the generous Smoot, according to promise. " Here 
 we leave our rising young statesman, to take up a different 
 but very interesting period of his history. 
 
H A P T E R 
 
 SINCE THE DAYS WHEN IN INDIANA LINCOLN SAT ON THE 
 
 river's bank with little Kate Roby, dangling his bare feet 
 in the water, there has been no hint in these pages of 
 tender relations with any one of the opposite sex. Now 
 we approach in timely order the "grand passion" of his 
 life — a romance of much reality, the memory of which 
 threw a melancholy shade over the remainder of his days. 
 For the first time our hero falls in love. The courtship 
 with Anne Rutledge and her untimely death form the 
 saddest page in Mr. Lincoln's history. I am aware that 
 most of his biographers have taken issue with me on this 
 phase of Mr. Lincoln's life. Arnold says : "The picture 
 has been somewhat too highly colored, and the story made 
 rather too tragic." Dr. Holland and others omit the sub- 
 ject altogether, while the most recent biography — the ad- 
 mirable history by my friends Nicolay and Hay — devotes 
 but five lines to it. I knew Miss Rutledge myself, as well 
 as her father and other members of the family, and have 
 been personally acquainted with every one of the score 
 or more of witnesses whom I at one time or another inter- 
 viewed on this delicate subject. From my own knowledge 
 and the information thus obtained, I therefore repeat, that 
 the memory of Anne Rutledge was the saddest chapter in 
 Mr. Lincoln's life. 2 
 
 1 See Editor's Preface, pp. xl-xliii, for a discussion of the sub- 
 ject of this chapter. 
 
 2 The original edition contains the following footnote : "In 
 a letter dated Dec. 4, 1866, one of Miss Rutledge's brothers 
 writes : 'When he first came to New Salem and up to the day 
 of Anne's death Mr. Lincoln was all life and animation. He 
 seemed to see the bright side of every picture'." 
 
106 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 James Rutledge, the father of this interesting girl, was 
 one of the founders of New Salem, having come there 
 from Kentucky in 1829. He was born in South Carolina 
 and belonged to the noted Rutledge family of that state. 
 I knew him as early as 1833, and have often shared the 
 hospitality of his home. My father was a politician and an 
 extensive stock dealer in that early day, and he and Mr. 
 Rutledge were great friends. The latter was a man of no 
 little force of character; those who knew him best loved 
 him the most. Like other Southern people he was warm, 
 — almost to impulsiveness, — social, and generous. His 
 hospitality, an inherited quality that flashed with him be- 
 fore he was born, developed by contact with the brave and 
 broad-minded people whom he met in Illinois. Besides his 
 business interests in the store and mill at New Salem, he 
 kept the tavern where Lincoln came to board in 1833. His 
 family, besides himself and wife, consisted of nine chil- 
 dren, three of whom were born in Kentucky, the remaining 
 six in Illinois. Anne, the subject of this chapter, was the 
 third child. She was a beautiful girl, and by her winning 
 ways attached people to her so firmly that she soon became 
 the most popular young lady in the village. She was quick 
 of apprehension, industrious, and an excellent housekeeper. 
 She had a moderate education, but was not cultured except 
 by contrast with those around her. One of her strong 
 points was her womanly skill. She was dexterous in the 
 use of the needle — an accomplishment of far more value in 
 that day than all the acquirements of art in china painting 
 and hammered brass are in this — and her needle-work was 
 the wonder of the day. At every "quilting" Anne was a 
 necessary adjunct, and her nimble fingers drove the needle 
 more swiftly than anyone's else. Lincoln used to escort her 
 to and from these quilting-bees, and on one occasion even 
 went into the house — where men were considered out of 
 place — and sat by her side as she worked on the quilt. 
 
 He whispered into her ear the old, old story. Her heart 
 throbbed and her soul was thrilled with a joy as old as 
 the world itself. Her fingers momentarily lost their skill. 
 In her ecstacy she made such irregular and uneven stitches 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN IO7 
 
 that the older and more sedate women noted it, and the 
 owner of the quilt, until a few years ago still retaining 
 it as a precious souvenir, pointed out the memorable stitches 
 to such persons as visited her. 
 
 L. M. Greene, who remembered Anne well, says, "She 
 was amiable and of exquisite beauty, and her intellect was 
 quick, deep, and philosophic as well as brilliant. She had 
 a heart as gentle and kind as an angel, and full of love and 
 sympathy. Her sweet and angelic nature was noted by 
 every one who met her. She was a woman worthy of 
 Lincoln's love." This is a little overstated as to beauty — 
 Greene writes as if he too had been in love with her — but 
 is otherwise nearly correct. 
 
 "Miss Rutledge," says a lady (Mrs. Hardin Bale) who 
 knew her, "had auburn hair, blue eyes, fair complexion. 
 She was pretty, slightly slender, but in everything a good 
 hearted young woman. She was about five feet two inches 
 high, and weighed in the neighborhood of a hundred and 
 twenty pounds. She was beloved by all who knew her. 
 She died as it were of grief. In speaking of her death 
 and her grave Lincoln once said to me. 'My heart lies 
 buried there.' " 
 
 Before narrating the details of Lincoln's courtship with 
 Miss Rutledge, it is proper to mention briefly a few facts 
 that occurred before their attachment began. 
 
 About the same time that Lincoln drifted into New 
 Salem there came in from the Eastern States John McNeil, 
 a young man of enterprise and great activity, seeking his 
 fortune in the West. He went to work at once, and within 
 a short time had accumulated by commendable effort a 
 comfortable amount of property. Within three years he 
 owned a farm, and a half interest with Samuel Hill in the 
 leading store. He had good capacity for business, and was 
 a valuable addition to that already pretentious village — 
 New Salem. It was while living at James Cameron's 
 house that this plucky and industrious young business man 
 first saw Anne Rutledge. At that time she was attending 
 the school of Mentor Graham, a pedagogue of local renown 
 whose name is frequently met with in these pages, and who 
 
IOS LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 flourished in and around New Salem from 1829 to 1860. 
 McNeil fell deeply in love with the school-girl — she was 
 then only seventeen — and paid her the usual unremitting 
 attentions young lovers of that age had done before him 
 and are still doing today. His partner in the store, Sam- 
 uel Hill, a young man of equal force of character, who 
 afterwards amassed a comfortable fortune, and also wield- 
 ed no little influence as a local politician, laid siege to 
 the heart of this same attractive maiden, but he yielded up 
 the contest early. Anne rejected him, and he dropped from 
 the race. McNeil had clear sailing from this time for- 
 ward. He was acquiring property and money day by day. 
 As one of the pioneers puts it, "Men were honest then, 
 and paid their debts at least once a year. The merchant 
 surrounded by a rich country suffered little from com- 
 petition. As he placed his goods on the shelf he added an 
 advance of from seventy-five to one hundred and fifty per 
 cent over cost price, and thus managed to get along." 
 After "managing" thus for several years, McNeil, having 
 disposed of his interest in the store to Hill, determined to 
 return to New York, his native State, for a visit. He had 
 accumulated up to this time, as near as we can learn, ten or 
 possibly twelve thousand dollars. Before leaving he made 
 to Anne a singular revelation. He told her the name 
 McNeil was an assumed one; that his real name was 
 McNamar. 
 
 "I left behind me in New York," he said, "my parents 
 and brothers and sisters. They are poor, and were in more 
 or less need when I left them in 1829. I vowed that I 
 would come West, make a fortune, and go back to help 
 them. I am going to start now and intend, if I can, to 
 bring them with me on my return to Illinois and place 
 them on my farm." He expressed a sense of deep satis- 
 faction in being able to clear up all mysteries which might 
 have formed in the mind of her to whom he confided his 
 love. He would keep nothing, he said, from her. They 
 were engaged to be married, and she should know it all. 
 The change of his name was occasioned by the fear that 
 if the family in New York had known where he was they 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN IO9 
 
 would have settled down on him, and before he could have 
 accumulated any property would have sunk him beyond 
 recovery. Now, however, he was in a condition to help 
 them, and he felt overjoyed at the thought. As soon as 
 the journey to New York could be made he would return. 
 Once again in New Salem he and his fair one could con- 
 summate the great event to which they looked forward 
 with undisguised joy and unbounded hope. Thus he ex- 
 plained to Anne the purpose of his journey — a story with 
 some remarkable features, all of which she fully believed. 
 
 "She would have believed it all the same if it had been 
 ten times as incredible. A wise man would have re- 
 jected it with scorn, but the girl's instinct was a better 
 guide, and McNamar proved to be all that he said he was, 
 although poor Anne never saw the proof which others got 
 of it." 8 
 
 At last McNamar, mounting an old horse that had par- 
 ticipated in the Black Hawk war, began his journey. In 
 passing through Ohio he became ill with a fever. For 
 almost a month he was confined to his room, and a portion 
 of the time was unconscious. As he approached a return 
 to good health he grew nervous over the delay in his 
 trip. He told no one around him his real name, destina- 
 tion, or business. He knew how his failure to write to 
 New Salem would be construed, and the resulting irrita- 
 tion gave way to a feeling of desperation. In plainer lan- 
 guage, he concluded it was "all up with him now." Mean- 
 while a different view of the matter was taken by Miss 
 Rutledge. Her friends encouraged the idea of cruel deser- 
 tion. The change of McNeil to McNamar had wrought 
 in their minds a change of sentiment. Some contended 
 that he had undoubtedly committed a crime in his earlier 
 days, and for years had rested secure from apprehension 
 undef the shadow of an assumed name ; while others with 
 equal assurance whispered in the unfortunate girl's ear 
 the old story of a rival in her affections. Anne's lady 
 friends, strange to relate, did more to bring about a dis- 
 cordant feeling than all others. Women are peculiar crea- 
 
 3 Lamon, Life of Abraham Lincoln, p. 161. 
 
110 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 tures. They love to nettle and mortify one another; and 
 when one of their own sex has fallen, how little sympathy 
 they seem to have ! But under all this fire, in the face of 
 all these insidious criticisms, Anne remained firm. She 
 had faith, and bided her time. 
 
 McNamar, after much vexatious delay, finally reached 
 his birthplace in New York, finding his father in the de- 
 cline of years and health. He provided for his immediate 
 needs, and by his assiduous attentions undertook to atone 
 for the years of his neglect ; but all to no purpose. The old 
 gentleman gradually faded from the world, and early one 
 winter morning crossed the great river. McNamar was 
 thus left to settle up the few unfinished details of his 
 father's estate, and to provide for the pressing needs of 
 the family. His detention necessitated a letter to Anne, 
 explaining the nature and cause of the delay. Other let- 
 ters followed ; but each succeeding one growing less ardent 
 in tone, and more formal in phraseology than its predeces- 
 sor, Anne began to lose faith. Had his love gradually 
 died away like the morning wind? was a question she 
 often asked herself. She had stood firm under fire before, 
 but now her heart grew sick with hope deferred. At last 
 the correspondence ceased altogether. 
 
 At this point we are favored with the introduction of 
 the ungainly Lincoln, as a suitor for the hand of Miss 
 Rutledge. Lincoln had learned of McNamar's strange 
 conduct, and conjecturing that all the silken ties that bound 
 the two together had been sundered, ventured to step in 
 himself. He had seen the young lady when a mere girl 
 at Mentor Graham's school, and he, no doubt, then had 
 formed a high opinion of her qualities. But he was too 
 bashful, as his friend Ellis declares, to tell her about it. 
 No doubt, when he began to pay her attentions she was 
 the most attractive young lady whom up to that time he 
 had ever met. She was not only modest and winning in 
 her ways, and full of good, womanly common-sense, but 
 withal refined, in contrast with the uncultured people who 
 surrounded both herself and Lincoln. "She had a secret, 
 too, and a sorrow, — the unexplained and painful absence 
 of McNamar, — which, no doubt, made her all the more 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN III 
 
 interesting to him whose spirit was often even more mel- 
 ancholy than her own/' 
 
 In after years, McNamar himself, describing her to 
 me, said: "Miss Rutledge was a gentle, amiable maiden, 
 without any of the airs of your city belles, but winsome 
 and comely withal; a blonde in complexion, with golden 
 hair, cherry-red lips, and a bonny blue eye. As to her 
 literary attainments, she undoubtedly was as classic a 
 scholar as Mr. Lincoln. She had at the time she met him, 
 I believe, attended a literary institution at Jacksonville, in 
 company with her brother." 
 
 McNamar seems to have considered Lincoln's bashful- 
 ness proof against the alluring charms of Miss Rutledge 
 or anybody else, for he continues : 
 
 "Mr. Lincoln was not to my knowledge paying particu- 
 lar attention to any of the young ladies of my acquaintance 
 when I left for my home in New York. There was no 
 rivalry between us on that score; on the contrary, I had 
 every reason to believe him my warm, personal friend. 
 But by-and-by I was left so far behind in the race I did 
 not deem my chances worthy of notice. From this time 
 forward he made rapid strides to that imperishable fame 
 which justly fills a world." 
 
 Lincoln began to court Miss Rutledge in dead earnest. 
 Like David Copperfield, he soon realized that he was in 
 danger of becoming deeply in love, and as he approached 
 the brink of the pit he trembled lest he should indeed fall 
 in. As he pleaded and pressed his cause the Rutledges 
 and all New Salem encouraged his suit. McNamar's un- 
 explained absence and apparent neglect furnished outsiders 
 with all the arguments needed to encourage Lincoln and 
 convince Anne. Although the attachment was growing 
 and daily becoming an intense and mutual passion, the 
 young lady remained firm and almost inflexible. She was 
 passing through another fire. A long struggle with her 
 feelings followed; but at length the inevitable moment 
 came. She consented to have Lincoln, provided he gave 
 her time to write to McNamar and obtain his release from 
 her pledge. The slow-moving mails carried her tender 
 letter to New York. Days and weeks — which to the ar- 
 
112 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 dent Lincoln must have seemed painfully long — passed, 
 but the answer never came. In a half-hearted way she 
 turned to Lincoln, and her looks told him that he had 
 won. She accepted his proposal. Now that they were 
 engaged he told her what she already knew, that he was 
 poverty itself. She must grant him time to gather up 
 funds to live on until he had completed his law studies. 
 After this trifling delay "nothing on God's footstool/' 
 argued the emphatic lover, could keep them apart. To 
 this the thoughtful Anne consented. To one of her 
 brothers, she said : "As soon as his studies are completed 
 we are to be married." But the ghost of another love 
 would often rise unbidden before her. Within her 
 bosom raged the conflict which finally undermined her 
 health. Late in the summer she took to her bed. A fever 
 was burning in her head. Day by day she sank, until 
 all hope was banished. During the latter days of her 
 sickness, her physician had forbidden visitors to enter 
 her room, prescribing absolute quiet. But her brother 
 relates that she kept inquiring for Lincoln so continu- 
 ously, at times demanding to see him, that the family at 
 last sent for him. On his arrival at her bedside the door 
 was closed and he was left alone with her. What was 
 said, what vows and revelations were made during this 
 sad interview, were known only to him and the dying 
 girl. A few days afterward she became unconscious and 
 remained so until her death on the 25th day of August, 
 1835. She was buried in what is known as the Concord 
 grave-yard, about seven miles north-west of the town of 
 Petersburg.* 
 
 4 In the original edition Herndon printed, as a footnote to 
 this paragraph, the following extract from a letter written by 
 John M. Rutledge, November 25, 1866: "I have heard mother 
 say that Anne would frequently sing for Lincoln's benefit. She 
 had a clear, ringing voice. Early in her illness he called, and 
 she sang a hymn for which he always expressed a great prefer- 
 ence. It begins : 
 
 'Vain man, thy fond pursuits forbear.' 
 You will find it in one of the standard hymn-books. It was 
 likewise the last thing she ever sung." 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 113 
 
 The most astonishing and sad sequel to this courtship 
 was the disastrous effect of Miss Rutledge's death on Mr. 
 Lincoln's mind. It operated strangely on one of his calm 
 and stoical make-up. As he returned from the visit to the 
 bedside of Miss Rutledge, he stopped at the house of a 
 friend, who relates that his face showed signs of no little 
 mental agony. "He was very much distressed," is the 
 language of this friend, "and I was not surprised when 
 it was rumored subsequently that his reason was in dan- 
 ger." One of Miss Rutledge's brothers says : "The effect 
 upon Mr. Lincoln's mind was terrible. He became plunged 
 in despair, and many of his friends feared that reason 
 would desert her throne. His extraordinary emotions 
 were regarded as strong evidence of the existence of the 
 tenderest relations between himself and the deceased." 
 The truth is Mr. Lincoln was strangely wrought up over 
 the sad ending of the affair. He had fits of great mental 
 depression, and wandered up and down the river and into 
 the woods woefully abstracted — at times in the deepest 
 distress. If, when we read what the many credible per- 
 sons who knew him at the time tell us, we do not con- 
 clude that he was deranged, we must admit that he walked 
 on that sharp and narrow line which divides sanity from 
 insanity. To one friend (William Greene) he complained 
 that the thought "that the snows and rains fall upon her 
 grave filled him with indescribable grief." He was watched 
 with especial vigilance during damp, stormy days, under 
 the belief that dark and gloomy weather might produce 
 such a depression of spirits as to induce him to take his 
 own life. His condition finally became so alarming, his 
 friends consulted together and sent him to the house of a 
 kind friend, Bowlin Greene, who lived in a secluded spot 
 hidden by the hills, a mile south of town. Here he re- 
 mained for some weeks under the care and ever watchful 
 eye of this noble friend, who gradually brought him back 
 to reason, or at least a realization of his true condition. 
 In the years that followed Mr. Lincoln never forgot the 
 kindness of Greene through those weeks of suffering and 
 peril. In 1842, when the latter died, and Lincoln was 
 
114 LIFE 0F LINCOLN 
 
 selected by the Masonic lodge to deliver the funeral ora- 
 tion, he broke down in the midst of his address. "His 
 voice was choked with deep emotion ; he stood a few mo- 
 ments while his lips quivered in the effort to form the 
 words of fervent praise he sought to utter, and the tears 
 ran down his yellow and shrivelled cheeks. Every heart 
 was hushed at the spectacle. After repeated efforts he 
 found it impossible to speak, and strode away, bitterly 
 sobbing, to the widow's carriage and was driven from the 
 scene." 
 
 It was shortly after this that Dr. Jason Duncan placed 
 in Lincoln's hands a poem called "Immortality." The 
 piece starts out with the line, "Oh ! why should the spirit 
 of mortal be proud." Lincoln's love for this poem has 
 certainly made it immortal. He committed these lines to 
 memory, and any reference to or mention of Miss Rut- 
 ledge would suggest them, as if "to celebrate a grief which 
 lay with continual heaviness on his heart." There is no 
 question that from this time forward Mr. Lincoln's spells 
 of melancholy became more intense than ever. In fact 
 a tinge of this desperate feeling of sadness followed him 
 to Springfield. He himself was somewhat superstitious 
 about it, and in 1840-41 wrote to Dr. Drake, a celebrated 
 physician in Cincinnati, describing his mental condition 
 in a long letter. Dr. Drake responded, saying substan- 
 tially, "I cannot prescribe in your case without a personal 
 interview." Joshua F. Speed, to whom Lincoln showed the 
 letter addressed to Dr. Drake, writing to me from 
 Louisville, November 30, 1866, says : "I think he (Lincoln) 
 must have informed Dr. Drake of his early love for Miss 
 Rutledge, as there was a part of the letter which he would 
 not read." It is shown by the declaration of Mr. Lincoln 
 himself made to a fellow member of the Legislature 
 (Robert L. Wilson) within two years after Anne Rut- 
 ledge's death that "although he seemed to others to enjoy 
 life rapturously, yet when alone he was so overcome by 
 mental depression he never dared to carry a pocket knife." 
 
 It may not be amiss to suggest before I pass from men- 
 tion of McNamar that, true to his promise, he drove into 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 115 
 
 New Salem in the fall of 1835 with his mother and broth- 
 ers and sisters. They had come through from New York 
 in a wagon, with all their portable goods. Anne Rutledge 
 had meanwhile died, and McNamar could only muse in 
 silence over the fading visions of "what might have been." 
 On his arrival he met Lincoln, who, with the memory of 
 their mutual friend, now dead, constantly before him, 
 "seemed desolate and sorely distressed." The little acre 
 of ground in Concord cemetery contained the form of 
 his first love, rudely torn from him, and the great world, 
 throbbing with life but cold and heartless, lay spread be- 
 fore him. 
 
CHAPTER SEVEN 
 
 BEFORE TAKING UP AN ACCOUNT OF LINCOLN S ENTRY INTO 
 
 the Legislature, which, following strictly the order of 
 time, properly belongs here, I beg to digress long enough 
 to narrate what I have gathered relating to another court- 
 ship — an affair of the heart which culminated in a sequel 
 as amusing as the one with Anne Rutledge was sad. I 
 experienced much difficulty in obtaining the particulars 
 of this courtship. After no little effort I finally located 
 and corresponded with the lady participant herself, who 
 in 1866 furnished me with Lincoln's letters and her own 
 account of the affair, requesting the suppression of her 
 name and residence. Since then, however, she has died, 
 and her children have not only consented to a publication 
 of the history, but have furnished me recently with more 
 facts and an excellent portrait of their mother made 
 shortly after her refusal of Lincoln's hand. 
 
 Mary S. Owens — a native of Green County, Kentucky, 
 born September 29, 1808 — first became acquainted with 
 Lincoln while on a visit to a sister, the wife of Bennet 
 Able, an early settler in the country about New Salem. 
 Lincoln was a frequent visitor at the house of Able, and 
 a warm friend of the family. During the visit of Miss 
 Owens in 1833, though only remaining a month, she lin- 
 gered long enough to make an impression on Lincoln; 
 but returned to Kentucky and did not reappear in New 
 Salem till 1836. Meanwhile Anne Rutledge had died, 
 and Lincoln's eyes began to wander after the dark-haired 
 visitor from Kentucky. Miss Owens differed from Miss 
 Rutledge in early education and the advantages of wealth. 
 She had received an excellent education, her father being 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 117 
 
 one of the wealthiest and most influential men of his time 
 and locality. A portion of her schooling was obtained in 
 a Catholic convent, though in religious faith she was a 
 Baptist. According to a description furnished me by 
 herself she "had fair skin, deep blue eyes, and dark curl- 
 ing hair; height five feet, five inches; weight about a 
 hundred and fifty pounds." She was good-looking in 
 girlhood ; by many esteemed handsome, but became flesh- 
 ier as she grew older. At the time of her second visit 
 she reached New Salem on the day of the Presidential 
 election, passing the polls where the men had congre- 
 gated, on the way to her sister's house. One man (L. M. 
 Greene) in the crowd who saw her then was impressed 
 with her beauty. Years afterwards, in relating the inci- 
 dent, he wrote me : 
 
 "She was tall, portly, had large blue eyes and the 
 finest trimmings I ever saw. She was jovial, social, loved 
 wit and humor, had a liberal English education, and was 
 considered wealthy. None of the poets or romance writ- 
 ers have ever given us a picture of a heroine so beautiful 
 as a good description of Miss Owens in 1836 would be." 
 
 A lady friend, Mrs. Hardin Bale, says she was "hand- 
 some, truly handsome, matronly-looking, over ordinary 
 size in height and weight." 
 
 Johnson G. Greene, who saw her a few years before her 
 death describes her as "a nervous, muscular woman very 
 intellectual, with a forehead massive and angular, square, 
 prominent, and broad." 
 
 At the time of her advent into the society of New Salem 
 she was polished in her manners, pleasing in her address, 
 and attractive in many ways. She had a little dash of co- 
 quetry in her intercourse with that class of young men 
 who arrogated to themselves claims of superiority, but she 
 never yielded to this disposition to an extent that would 
 willingly lend encouragement to an honest suitor sincerely 
 desirous of securing her hand, when she felt she could not 
 in the end yield to a proposal of marriage if he should 
 make the offer. She was a good conversationalist and a 
 splendid reader, very few persons being found to equal 
 
Il8 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 her in this accomplishment. She was light-hearted and 
 cheery in her disposition, kind and considerate for those 
 with whom she was thrown in contact. 
 
 One of Miss Owens' descendants is authority for the 
 statement that Lincoln had boasted that "if Mary Owens 
 ever returned to Illinois a second time he would marry 
 her;" that a report of this came to her ears, whereupon 
 she left her Kentucky home with a pre-determination to 
 show him if she met him that she was not to be caught 
 simply by the asking. On this second visit Lincoln paid 
 her more marked attention than before, and his affections 
 became more and more enlisted in her behalf. During the 
 earlier part of their acquaintance, following the natural 
 bent of her temperament she was pleasing and entertain- 
 ing to him. Later on he discovered himself seriously in- 
 terested in the blue-eyed Kentuckian, whom he had really 
 under-estimated in his preconceived opinions of her. In 
 the meantime she too had become interested, having dis- 
 covered the sterling qualities of the young man who was 
 paying her such devoted attention; yet while she admired 
 she did not love him. He was ungainly and angular in 
 his physical make-up, and to her seemed deficient in the 
 nicer and more delicate attentions which she felt to be due 
 from the man whom she had pictured as an ideal husband. 
 He had given her to understand that she had greatly 
 charmed him ; but he was not himself certain that he could 
 make her the husband with whom he thought she would 
 be most happy. Later on by word and letter he told her 
 so. His honesty of purpose showed itself in all his ef- 
 forts to win her hand. He told her of his poverty, and 
 while advising her that life with him meant to her who 
 had been reared in comfort and plenty, great privation 
 and sacrifice, yet he wished to secure her as a wife. She, 
 however, felt that she did not entertain for him the same 
 feeling that he professed for her and that she ought to 
 entertain before accepting him, and so declined his offer. 
 Judging from his letters alone it has been supposed by 
 some that she, remembering the rumor she had heard of 
 his determination to marry her, and not being fully cer- 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN Iig 
 
 tain of the sincerity of his purposes, may have purposely 
 left him in the earlier stages of his courtship somewhat 
 in uncertainty. Later on, however, when by his manner 
 and repeated announcement to her that his hand and heart 
 were at her disposal, he demonstrated the honesty and 
 sincerity of his intentions, she declined his offer kindly 
 but with no uncertain meaning. 
 
 The first letter I received from Mrs. Vineyard — for she 
 was married to Jesse Vineyard, March 27, 1841 — was 
 written at Weston, Mo., May 1, 1866. Among other 
 things she says : "After quite a struggle with my feelings 
 I have at last decided to send you the letters in my pos- 
 session written by Mr. Lincoln, believing as I do that you 
 are a gentleman of honor and will faithfully abide by all 
 you have said. My associations with your lamented friend 
 were in Menard County whilst visiting a sister who then 
 resided near Petersburg. I have learned that my maiden 
 name is now in your possession; and you have ere this, 
 no doubt, been informed that I am a native Kentuckian." 
 
 The letters written by Lincoln not revealing enough de- 
 tails of the courtship, I prepared a list of questions for 
 the lady to answer in order that the entire history of their 
 relations might be clearly shown. I perhaps pressed her 
 too closely in such a delicate matter, for she responded 
 in a few days as follows : 
 
 "Weston, Mo., May 22, 1866. 
 "Mr. W. H. Herndon, 
 
 "My Dear Sir: Really, you catechise me in true lawyer 
 style; but I feel you will have the goodness to excuse me if 
 I decline answering all your questions in detail, being well 
 assured that few women would have ceded as much as I have 
 under all the circumstances. 
 
 "You say you have heard why our acquaintance terminated 
 as it did. I too have heard the same bit of gossip ; but I never 
 used the remark which Madame Rumor says I did to Mr. 
 Lincoln. I think I did on one occasion say to my sister, who 
 was very anxious for us to be married, that I thought Mr. 
 Lincoln was deficient in those little links which make up the 
 chain of woman's happiness — at least it was so in my case. 
 
120 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 Not that I believed it proceeded from a lack of goodness of 
 heart; but his training had been different from mine; hence 
 there was not that congeniality which would otherwise have 
 existed. 
 
 "From his own showing you perceive that his heart and 
 hand were at my disposal ; and I suppose that my feelings 
 were not sufficiently enlisted to have the matter consummated. 
 About the beginning of the year 1838 I left Illinois, at which 
 time our acquaintance and correspondence ceased, without 
 ever again being renewed. 
 
 "My father, who resided in Green County, Kentucky, was a 
 gentleman of considerable means ; and I am persuaded that 
 few persons placed a higher estimate on education than he 
 did. 
 
 "Respectfully yours, 
 
 "Mary S. Vineyard." 
 
 The reference to Lincoln's deficiency "in those little 
 links which make up the chain of woman's happiness" is of 
 no little significance. It proved that his training had indeed 
 been different from hers. In a short time I again wrote 
 Mrs. Vineyard to inquire as to the truth of a story current 
 in New Salem, that one day as she and Mrs. Bowlin Greene 
 were climbing up the hill to Abie's house they were joined 
 by Lincoln; that Mrs. Greene was obliged to carry her 
 child, a fat baby boy, to the summit ; that Lincoln strolled 
 carelessly along, offering no assistance to the woman who 
 bent under the load. Thereupon Miss Owens, censuring 
 him for his neglect, reminded him that in her estimation 
 he would not make a good husband. In due time came 
 her answer : 
 
 "Weston, Mo., July 22, 1866. 
 "Mr. W. H. Herndon : 
 
 "Dear Sir: I do not think you are pertinacious in asking 
 the question relative to old Mrs. Bowlin Greene, because I 
 wish to set you right on that question. Your information, no 
 doubt, came through my cousin, Mr. Gaines Greene, who 
 visited us last winter. Whilst here, he was laughing at me 
 about Mr. Lincoln, and among other things spoke about the 
 circumstance in connection with Mrs. Greene and child. My 
 impression is now that I tacitly admitted it, for it was a season 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 121 
 
 of trouble with me, and I gave but little heed 10 the matter. 
 We never had any hard feelings towards each other that I 
 know of. On no occasion did I say to Mr. Lincoln that I 
 did not believe he would make a kind husband, because he did 
 not tender his services to Mrs. Greene in helping of her carry 
 her babe. As I said to you in a former letter, I thought him 
 lacking in smaller attentions. One circumstance presents it- 
 self just now to my mind's eye. There was a company of us 
 going to Uncle Billy Greene's. Mr. Lincoln was riding with 
 me, and we had a very bad branch to cross. The other 
 gentlemen were very officious in seeing that their partners 
 got safely over. We were behind, he riding in, never looking 
 back to see how I got along. When I rode up beside him, I 
 remarked, 'You are a nice fellow ! I suppose you did not 
 care whether my neck was broken or not.' He laughingly 
 replied (I suppose by way of compliment), that he knew I 
 was plenty smart to take care of myself. 
 
 "In many things he was sensitive almost to a fault. He 
 told me of an incident : that he was crossing a prairie one day 
 and saw before him, 'a hog mired down/ to use his own 
 language. He was rather 'fixed up,' and he resolved that he 
 would pass on without looking at the shoat. After he had 
 gone by, he said the feeling was irresistible; and he had to 
 look back, and the poor thing seemed to say wistfully, 'There 
 now, my last hope is gone' ; that he deliberately got down and 
 relieved it from its difficulty. 
 
 "In many things we were congenial spirits. In politics 
 we saw eye to eye, though since then we differed as widely 
 as the South is from the North. But methinks I hear you 
 say, 'Save me from a political woman !' So say I. 
 
 "The last message I ever received from him was about a 
 year after we parted in Illinois. Mrs. Able visited Kentucky, 
 and he said to her in Springfield, 'Tell your sister that I think 
 she was a great fool because she did not stay here and marry 
 me.' Characteristic of the man! 
 
 "Respectfully yours, 
 
 "Mary S. Vineyard." 
 
 We have thus been favored with the lady's side of this 
 case, and it is but fair that we should hear the testimony 
 of her honest but ungainly suitor. Fortunately for us and 
 for history we have his view of the case in a series of 
 
122 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 letters which have been preserved with zealous care by the 
 lady's family. The first letter was written from Vandalia, 
 December 13, 1836, where the Legislature to which he be- 
 longed was in session. After reciting the progress of legis- 
 lation and the flattering prospect that then existed for the 
 removal of the seat of govenment to Spingfield, he gets 
 down to personal matters by apprising her of his illness for 
 a few days, coupled with the announcement that he is mor- 
 tified by daily trips to the post-office in quest of her letter, 
 which it seemed never would arrive. "You see," he com- 
 plains, "I am mad about that old letter yet. I don't like 
 to risk you again. I'll try you once more, anyhow." 
 Further along in the course of the missive, he says : "You 
 recollect, I mentioned at the outset of this letter, that I had 
 been unwell. That is the fact though I believe I am about 
 well now ; but that, with other things I cannot account for, 
 have conspired, and have gotten my spirits so low that I 
 feel that I would rather be in any place in the world than 
 here. I really cannot endure the thought of staying here 
 ten weeks. Write back as soon as you get this, and if pos- 
 sible, say something that will please me ; for really, I have 
 not been pleased since I left you. This letter is so dry 
 and stupid," he mournfully concludes, "that I am ashamed 
 to send it, but with my present feelings I cannot do any 
 better." 
 
 After the adjournment of the Legislature he returned to 
 Springfield, from which point it was a matter of easy 
 driving to reach New Salem, where his lady-love was so- 
 journing, and where he could pay his addresses in person. 
 It should be borne in mind that he had by this time re- 
 moved to Springfield, the county seat, and entered on the 
 practice of the law. In the gloom resulting from lack of 
 funds and the dim prospects for business, he found time 
 to communicate with the friend whose case was constantly 
 uppermost in his mind. Here is one characteristic letter : 
 
 "Springfield, May 7, 1837. 
 "Friend Mary : 
 
 "I have commenced two letters to send you before this, both 
 of which displeased me before I got half done, and so I tore 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 1 23 
 
 them up. The first I thought wasn't serious enough, and the 
 second was on the other extreme. I shall send this, turn out 
 as it may. 
 
 "This thing of living in Springfield is rather a dull business 
 after all — at least it is so to me. I am quite as lonesome here 
 as [I] ever was anywhere in my life. I have been spoken 
 to by but one woman since I've been here, and should not 
 have been by her if she could have avoided it. I've never been 
 to church yet, and probably shall not be soon. I stay away 
 because I am conscious I should not know how to behave 
 myself. I am often thinking of what we said of your coming 
 to live at Springfield. I am afraid you would not be satis- 
 field. There is a great deal of flourishing about in carriages 
 here, which it would be your doom to see without sharing in 
 it. You would have to be poor without the means of hiding 
 your poverty. Do you believe you could bear that patiently? 
 Whatever woman may cast her lot with mine, should anyone 
 ever do so, it is my intention to do all in my power to make 
 her happy and contented, and there is nothing I can imagine 
 that would make me more unhappy than to fail in the effort. 
 I know I should be much happier with you than the way I 
 am, provided I saw no signs of discontent in you. 
 
 "What you have said to me may have been in jest or I 
 may have misunderstood it. If so, then let it be forgotten; 
 if otherwise I much wish you would think seriously before 
 you decide. For my part I have already decided. What I 
 have said I will most positively abide by, provided you wish 
 it. My opinion is you had better not do it. You have not 
 been accustomed to hardship, and it may be more severe than 
 you imagine. I know you are capable of thinking correctly 
 on any subject; and if you deliberate maturely upon this be- 
 fore you decide, then I am willing to abide your decision. 
 
 "You must write me a good long letter after you get this. 
 You have nothing else to do, and though it might not seem 
 interesting to you after you have written it, it would be a 
 good deal of company in this busy wilderness. Tell your 
 sister I don't want to hear any more about selling out and 
 moving. That gives me the hypo whenever I think of it. 
 
 "Yours, etc. 
 
 "Lincoln." 
 
 Very few if any men can be found who in fond pursuit 
 of their love would present their case voluntarily in such 
 
124 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 an unfavorable light. In one breath he avows his affection 
 for the lady whose image is constantly before him, and in 
 the next furnishes her reasons why she ought not to marry 
 him ! During the warm, dry summer months he kept up 
 the siege without apparent diminution of zeal. He was 
 as assiduous as ever, and in August was anxious to force 
 a decision. On the 16th he had a meeting with her which 
 terminated much like a drawn battle — at least it seems to 
 have afforded him but little encouragement, for on his 
 return to Springfield he immediately indulged in an epis- 
 tolary effusion stranger than any that preceded it. 
 
 "Friend Mary : 
 
 "You will no doubt think it rather strange that I should 
 write you a letter on the same day on which we parted; and 
 I can only account for it by supposing that seeing you lately 
 makes me think of you more than usual, while at our late 
 meeting we had but few expressions of thoughts. You must 
 know that I cannot see you or think of you with entire in- 
 difference; and yet it may be that you are mistaken in regard 
 to what my real feelings towards you are. If I knew you 
 were not, I should not trouble you with this letter. Perhaps 
 any other man would know enough without further informa- 
 tion, but I consider it my peculiar right to plead ignorance 
 and your bounden duty to allow the plea. 
 
 "I want in all cases to do right; and most particularly so 
 in all cases with women. I want, at this particular time, more 
 than anything else, to do right with you, and if I knew it 
 would be doing right, as I rather suspect it would, to let you 
 alone, I would do it. And for the purpose of making the 
 matter as plain as possible, I now say, that you can now drop 
 the subject, dismiss your thoughts (if you ever had any) from 
 me forever, and leave this letter unanswered, without calling 
 forth one accusing murmur from me. And I will even go 
 farther, and say, that if it will add anything to your comfort or 
 peace of mind to do so, it is my sincere wish that you should. 
 Do not understand by this that I wish to cut your acquaint- 
 ance. I mean no such thing. What I do wish is that our 
 further acquaintance shall depend upon yourself. If such 
 further acqaintance would contribute nothing to your happi- 
 ness, I am sure it would not to mine. If you feel yourself in 
 any degree bound to me, I am now willing to release you, 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 125 
 
 provided you wish it; while, on the other hand, I am willing 
 and even anxious to bind you faster if I can be convinced that 
 it will in any considerable degree add to your happiness. 
 This, indeed, is the whole question with me. Nothing would 
 make me more miserable, nothing more happy, than to know 
 you were so. 
 
 "In what I have now said, I think I cannot be misunder- 
 stood; and to make myself understood is the sole object of this 
 letter. 
 
 "If it suits you best to not answer this — farewell — a long 
 life and a merry one attend you. But if you conclude to 
 write back, speak as plainly as I do. There can be neither 
 harm nor danger in saying to me anything you think, just in 
 the manner you think it. 
 
 "My respects to your sister. 
 
 "Your friend, 
 
 "Lincoln." 
 
 For an account of the final outcome of this affaire du 
 coeur the reader is now referred to the most ludicrous letter 
 Mr. Lincoln ever wrote. It has been said, but with how 
 much truth I do not know, that during his term as Presi- 
 dent the lady to whom it was written — Mrs. O. H. Brown- 
 ing, wife of a fellow-member of the legislature — before 
 giving a copy of it to a biographer, wrote to Lincoln ask- 
 ing his consent to the publication, but that he answered 
 warning her against it because it was too full of truth. 
 The only biographer who ever did insert it apologized for 
 its appearance in his book, regarding it for many reasons 
 as an extremely painful duty. "If it could be withheld/' 
 he laments, "and the act decently reconciled to the con- 
 science of a biographer 1 professing to be honest and can- 
 did, it should never see the light in these pages. Its gro- 
 tesque humor, its coarse exaggerations in describing the 
 person of a lady whom the writer was willing to marry; 
 its imputation of toothless and weatherbeaten old age to a 
 woman really young and handsome ; its utter lack of that 
 delicacy of tone and sentiment which one naturally expects 
 a gentleman to adopt when he thinks proper to discuss 
 the merits of his late mistress — all these, and its defec- 
 
 1 Lamon, Life of Abraham Lincoln, p. 181. 
 
126 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 tive orthography, it would certainly be more agreeable to 
 suppress than to publish. But if we begin by omitting or 
 mutilating a document which sheds so broad a light upon 
 one part of his life and one phase of his character, why 
 may we not do the like as fast and as often as the tempta- 
 tion arises ? and where shall the process cease ?" 
 
 I prefer not to take such a serious view of the letter 
 or its publication. My idea is, that Mr. Lincoln got into 
 one of his irresistible moods of humor and fun — a state of 
 feeling into which he frequently worked himself to avert 
 the overwhelming effects of his constitutional melancholy 
 — and in the inspiration of the moment penned this letter, 
 which many regard as an unfortunate composition. The 
 class who take such a gloomy view of the matter should 
 bear in mind that the letter was written by Mr. Lincoln in 
 the fervor of early manhood, just as he was emerging from 
 a most embarrassing situation, and addressed to a friend 
 whom he supposed would keep it sacredly sealed from the 
 public eye. As a matter of fact Mr. Lincoln was not 
 gifted with a ready perception of the propriety of things 
 in all cases. Nothing with him was intuitive. To have 
 profound judgment and just discrimination he required 
 time to think; and if facts or events were forced before 
 him in too rapid succession the machinery of his judgment 
 failed to work. A knowledge of this fact will account for 
 the letter, and also serve to rob the offence — if any was 
 committed — of half its severity. 
 
 The letter was written in the same month Miss Owens 
 made her final departure from Illinois. 
 
 "Springfield, April 1, 1838. 
 "Dear Madam : — 
 
 "Without apologizing for being egotistical, I shall make the 
 history of so much of my life as has elapsed since I saw you 
 the subject of this letter. And, by the way, I now discover 
 that, in order to give a full and intelligible account of the 
 things I have done and suffered since I saw you, I shall neces- 
 sarily have to relate some that happened before. 
 
 "It was, then, in the autumn of 1836 that a married lady 
 of my acquaintance and who was a great friend of mine, 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN \2J 
 
 being about to pay a visit to her father and other relatives 
 residing- in Kentucky, proposed to me that on her return 
 she would bring a sister of hers with her on condition that I 
 would engage to become her brother-in-law with all con- 
 venient despatch. I, of course, accepted the proposal, for you 
 know I could not have done otherwise, had I really been 
 averse to it; but privately, between you and me I was most 
 confoundedly well pleased with the project. I had seen the 
 said sister some three years before, thought her intelligent 
 and agreeable, and saw no good objection to plodding life 
 through hand in hand with her. Time passed on, the lady 
 took her journey, and in due time returned, sister in company 
 sure enough. This astonished me a little; for it appeared to 
 me that her coming so readily showed that she was a trifle 
 too willing; but, on reflection, it occurred to me that she 
 might have been prevailed on by her married sister to come, 
 without anything concerning me ever having been mentioned 
 to her; and so I concluded that, if no other objection pre- 
 sented itself, I would consent to waive this. All this occurred 
 to me on hearing of her arrival in the neighborhood; for, be 
 it remembered, I had not yet seen her, except about three 
 years previous, as above mentioned. In a few days we had 
 an interview; and, although I had seen her before, she did 
 not look as my imagination had pictured her. I knew she was 
 over-size, but she now appeared a fair match for FalstafT. I 
 knew she was called an 'old maid/ and I felt no doubt of the 
 truth of at least half of the appellation ; but now, when I be- 
 held her, I could not for my life avoid thinking of my mother ; 
 and this, not from withered features, for her skin was too 
 full of fat to permit of its contracting into wrinkles, but from 
 her want of teeth, weather-beaten appearance in general, and 
 from a kind of notion that ran in my head that nothing could 
 have commenced at the size of infancy and reached her present 
 bulk in less than thirty-five or forty years ; and, in short, I was 
 not at all pleased with her. But what could I do ? I had told 
 her sister I would take her for better or for worse; and I 
 made a point of honor and conscience in all things to stick 
 to my word, especially if others had been induced to act on it, 
 which in this case I had no doubt they had; for I was now 
 fairly convinced that no other man on earth would have her, 
 and hence the conclusion that they were bent on holding me 
 to my bargain. 'Well/ thought I, T have said it, and, be the 
 consequences what they may, it shall not be my fault if I fail 
 
128 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 to do it.' At once I determined to consider her my wife ; and, 
 this done, all my powers of discovery were put to work in 
 search of perfections in her which might be fairly set off 
 against her defects. I tried to imagine her handsome, which, 
 but for her unfortunate corpulency, was actually true. Exclu- 
 sive of this, no woman that I have ever seen has a finer face. 
 I also tried to convince myself that the mind was much more 
 to be valued than the person ; and in this she was not inferior, 
 as I could discover, to any with whom I had been acquainted. 
 
 "Shortly after this, without coming to any positive under- 
 standing with her, I set out for Vandal ia, when and where you 
 first saw me. During my stay there I had letters from her 
 which did not change my opinion of either her intellect or 
 intention, but on the contrary confirmed it in both. 
 
 "All this while, although I was fixed, 'firm as the surge- 
 repelling rock/ in my resolution, I found I was continually 
 repenting the rashness which had led me to make it. Through 
 life, I have been in no bondage, either real or imaginary, from 
 the thraldom of which I so much desired to be free. After 
 my return home, I saw nothing to change my opinions of her 
 in any particular. She was the same, and so was I. I now 
 spent my time in planning how I might get along through life 
 after my contemplated change of circumstances should have 
 taken place, and how I might procrastinate the evil day for 
 a time, which I really dreaded as much, perhaps more, than 
 an Irishman does the halter. 
 
 "After all my suffering upon this deeply interesting sub- 
 ject, here I am, wholly, unexpectedly, completely, out of the 
 'scrape'; and now I want to know if you can guess how I 
 got out of it — out, clear, in every sense of the term; no viola- 
 tion of word, honor, or conscience. I don't believe you can 
 guess, and so I might as well tell you at once. As the 
 lawyer says, it was done in the manner following, to-wit : 
 After I had delayed the matter as long as I thought I could 
 in honor do (which, by the way, had brought me round into 
 the last fall), I concluded I might as well bring it to a con- 
 summation without further delay; and so I mustered my 
 resolution, and made the proposal to her direct; but, shock- 
 ing to relate, she answered, No. At first I supposed she did 
 it through an affectation of modesty, which I thought but ill 
 became her under the peculiar circumstances of her case ; 
 but on my renewal of the charge, I found she repelled it with 
 greater firmness than before. I tried it again and again, but 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 129 
 
 with the same success, or rather with the same want of suc- 
 cess. 
 
 "I finally was forced to give it up; at which I very unex- 
 pectedly found myself mortified almost beyond endurance. I 
 was mortified, it seemed to me, in a hundred different ways. 
 My vanity was deeply wounded by the reflection that I had 
 been too stupid to discover her intentions, and at the same 
 time never doubting that I understood them perfectly; and 
 also that she, whom I had taught myself to believe nobody else 
 would have, had actually rejected me with all my fancied 
 greatness. And, to cap the whole, I then for the first time 
 began to suspect that I was really a little in love with her. 
 But let it all go. I'll try and outlive it. Others have been 
 made fools of by the girls ; but this can never with truth be 
 said of me. I most emphatically, in this instance, made a fool 
 of myself. I have now come to the conclusion never again 
 to think of marrying, and for this reason: I can never be 
 satisfied with any one who would be blockhead enough to 
 have me. 
 
 "When you receive this, write me a long yarn about some- 
 thing to amuse me. Give my respects to Mr. Browning. 
 
 "Your sincere friend, 
 
 "A. Lincoln." 
 
 Mrs. O. H. Browning. 
 
 As before mentioned Miss Owens was afterwards mar- 
 ried and became the mother of five children. Two of her 
 sons served in the Confederate army. She died July 4, 
 1877. Speaking of Mr. Lincoln a short time before her 
 death she referred to him as "a man with a heart full of 
 human kindness and a head full of common-sense." 
 
CHAPTER EIGH 
 
 IN DECEMBER, 1834, LINCOLN PREPARED HIMSELF FOR THE 
 
 Legislature to which he had been elected by such a com- 
 plimentary majority. Through the generosity of his friend 
 Smoot he purchased a new suit of clothes, and entering 
 the stage at New Salem, rode through to Vandalia, the 
 seat of government. He appreciated the dignity of his new 
 position, and instead of walking to the capital, as some 
 of his biographers have contended, availed himself of the 
 usual mode of travel. At this session of the Legislature 
 he was anything but conspicuous. In reality he was very 
 modest, but shrewd enough to impress the force of his 
 character on those persons whose influence might some day 
 be of advantage to him. He made but little stir, if we are 
 to believe the record, during the whole of this first session. 
 Made a member of the committee on Public Accounts and 
 Expenditures, his name appears so seldom in the reports of 
 the proceedings that we are prone to conclude that he must 
 have contented himself with listening to the flashes of 
 border oratory and absorbing his due proportion of par- 
 liamentary law. He was reserved in manner, but very 
 observant ; said little, but learned much ; made the acquaint- 
 ance of all the members and many influential persons on 
 the outside. The lobby at that day contained the repre- 
 sentative men of the state — men of acknowledged promi- 
 nence and respectability, many of them able lawyers, drawn 
 thither in advocacy of some pet bill. Schemes of vast 
 internal improvements attracted a retinue of log-rollers, 
 who in later days seem to have been an indispensable 
 necessity in the movement of complicated legislative ma- 
 chinery. Men of capital and brains were there. He early 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN I3I 
 
 realized the importance of knowing all these, trusting to 
 the inspiration of some future hour to impress them with 
 his skill as an organizer or his power as an orator. Among 
 the members of the outside or "third body" was Stephen 
 A. Douglas, whom Lincoln then saw for the first time. 
 Douglas had come from Vermont only the year before, but 
 was already undertaking to supplant John J. Hardin in the 
 office of States Attorney for the district in which both 
 lived. What impression he made on Lincoln, what opinions 
 each formed of the other, or what the extent of their 
 acquaintance then was, we do not know. It is said that 
 Lincoln afterwards in mentioning their first meeting ob- 
 served of the newly-arrived Vermonter that he was the 
 "least man he had ever seen." The Legislature proper 
 contained the youth and blood and fire of the frontier. 
 Some of the men who participated in these early parlia- 
 mentary battles were destined to carry the banners of 
 great political parties, some to lead in war and some in 
 the great council chamber of the nation. Some were to 
 fill the Governor's office, others to wear the judicial ermine, 
 and one was destined to be Chief Magistrate and die a 
 martyr to the cause of human liberty. 
 
 The society of Vandalia and the people attracted thither 
 by the Legislature made it, for that early day, a gay place 
 indeed. Compared to Lincoln's former environments, it 
 had no lack of refinement and polish. That he ab- 
 sorbed a good deal of this by contact with the men and 
 women who surrounded him there can be no doubt. The 
 "drift of sentiment and the sweep of civilization" at this 
 time can best be measured by the character of the legis- 
 lation. There were acts to incorporate banks, turnpikes, 
 bridges, insurance companies, towns, railroads, and female 
 academies. The vigor and enterprise of New England 
 fusing with the illusory prestige of Kentucky and Virginia 
 was fast forming a uew civilization to spread over the 
 prairies ! At this session Lincoln remained quietly in the 
 background, and contented himself with the introduction 
 of a resolution in favor of securing to the State a part of 
 the proceeds of sales of public lands within its limits. 
 
132 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 [This resolution offered January 10, 1835, was laid on the 
 table, and Lincoln made no further effort to bring it to a 
 vote. In addition to serving on the Committee of Public 
 Accounts and Expenditures, he was appointed to two select 
 committees — one to examine a bill to increase the number 
 of election precincts in Morgan County; the other with 
 reference to the duties of the Attorney General.] 
 
 With this brief and modest record he returned to his 
 constituents at New Salem. With zealous perseverance, 
 he renewed his application to the law and to surveying, 
 continuing his studies in both departments until he became, 
 as he thought, reliable and proficient. By reason of a 
 change in the office of Surveyor for the county he became 
 a deputy under Thomas M. Neale, who had been elected 
 to succeed John Calhoun. The speculation in lands made 
 a brisk business for the new surveyor, who even added 
 Calhoun, his predecessor, to the list of deputies. Lin- 
 coln had now become somewhat established in the good- 
 will and respect of his constituents. His bashfulness and 
 timidity was gradually giving way to a feeling of self- 
 confidence, and he began to exult over his ability to stand 
 alone. 
 
 [In the late autumn of 1835 Governor Duncan called a 
 special session of the Legislature. Convening on December 
 7, the session lasted two months, and in it Lincoln took an 
 active part. He supported the State Bank in various 
 measures of which it was the subject; he upheld acts look- 
 ing toward the construction of the Illinois and Michi- 
 gan Canal, and gave his vote for a proposal that Congress 
 allow Illinois to enter not more than 500,000 acres of 
 government land on credit as an aid in making internal 
 improvements. 
 
 National politics frequently intruded during the special 
 session. On the first day a Democratic convention met at 
 Vandalia and issued an address in support of Van Buren. 
 Within a short time the Senate, Whig by a majority of 
 one, nominated Hugh L. White of Tennessee for the Presi- 
 dency. The House, Democratic, retaliated with a series of 
 resolutions bitterly anti-Whig in character. Much party 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN I33 
 
 skirmishing, in which Lincoln took an active part, resulted. 
 The session ended February 7, 1836.] 
 
 The brief taste of public office which he had just enjoyed, 
 and the distinction it gave him only whetted his appetite 
 for further honors. Accordingly, in 1836 we find him a 
 candidate for the Legislature again. I well remember this 
 campaign and the election which followed, for my father, 
 Archer G. Herndon, was also a candidate, aspiring to a 
 seat in the State Senate. The legislature at the session 
 previous had in its apportionment bill increased the delega- 
 tion from Sangamon County to seven Representatives and 
 two Senators. Party conventions had not yet been in- 
 vented, and there being no nominating machinery to inter- 
 fere, the field was open for any and all to run. Lincoln 
 again resorted, in opening his canvass, to the medium of 
 the political handbill. Although it had not operated with the 
 most satisfactory results in his first campaign, yet he felt 
 willing to risk it again. Candidates of that day evinced 
 far more willingness to announce their position than 
 political aspirants do now. Without waiting for a conven- 
 tion to construct a platform, or some great political leader 
 to "sound the key-note of the campaign/' they stepped to 
 the forefront and blew the bugle themselves. This custom 
 will account for the boldness of Lincoln's utterances and 
 the unequivocal tone of his declarations. His card — a sort 
 of political f ulmination — was as follows : 
 
 "New Salem, June 13, 1836. 
 "To the Editor of The Journal: 
 
 "In your paper of last Saturday I see a communication over 
 the signature of 'Many Voters' in which the candidates who 
 are announced in the Journal are called upon to 'show their 
 hands/ Agreed. Here's mine: 
 
 "I go for all sharing the privileges of the government who 
 assist in bearing its burdens. Consequently, I go for admitting 
 all whites to the right of suffage who pay taxes or bear arms 
 (by no means excluding females). 
 
 "If elected I shall consider the whole people of Sangamon 
 my constituents, as well those that oppose as those that sup- 
 port me. 
 
134 LIFE 0F LINCOLN 
 
 "While acting as their Representative, I shall be governed 
 by their will on all subjects upon which I have the means of 
 knowing what their will is ; and upon all others I shall do 
 what my own judgment teaches me will best advance their 
 interests. Whether elected or not, I go for distributing the 
 proceeds of the sales of public lands to the several States to 
 enable our State, in common with others, to dig canals and 
 construct railroads without borrowing money and paying the 
 interest on it. 
 
 "If alive on the first Monday in November, I shall vote for 
 Hugh L. White for President. 
 
 "Very respectfully, 
 
 "A. Lincoln. " 
 
 It is generally admitted that the bold and decided stand 
 Lincoln took — though too audacious and emphatic for 
 statesmen of a later day — suited the temper of the times. 
 Leaving out of sight his expressed preference for White 
 of Tennessee, — on whom all the anti-Jackson forces were 
 disposed to concentrate, and which was but a mere ques- 
 tion of men, — there is much food for thought in the second 
 paragraph. His broad plan for universal suffrage cer- 
 tainly commends itself to the ladies, and we need no further 
 evidence to satisfy our minds of his position on the subject 
 of "Woman's Rights," had he lived. In fact, I cannot 
 refrain from noting here what views he in after years held 
 with reference to the great questions of moral and social 
 reforms, under which he classed universal suffrage, tem- 
 perance, and slavery. "All such questions," he observed 
 one day, as we were discussing temperance in the office, 
 "must first find lodgment with the most enlightened souls 
 who stamp them with their approval. In God's own time 
 they will be organized into law and thus woven into the 
 fabric of our institutions." 
 
 The canvass which followed this public avowal of creed, 
 was more exciting than any which had preceded it. There 
 were joint discussions, and, at times, much feeling was 
 exhibited. Each candidate had his friends freely dis- 
 tributed through the crowd, and it needed but a few angry 
 interruptions or insinuating rejoinders from one speaker 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 135 
 
 to another to bring on a conflict between their friends. 
 Frequently the speakers led in the battle themselves, as in 
 the case of Ninian W. Edwards — afterwards a brother- 
 in-law of Lincoln — who, in debate, drew a pistol on his 
 opponent Achilles Morris, a prominent Democrat. An 
 interesting relic of this canvass recently came to light, in 
 a letter which Mr. Lincoln wrote a week after he had an- 
 nounced his candidacy. It is addressed to Colonel Robert 
 Allen, a Democratic politician of local prominence, who 
 had been circulating some charges intended to affect Lin- 
 coln's chances of election. The affair brought to the 
 surface what little satire there was in Lincoln's nature, 
 and he administers — by way of innuendo — such a flaying 
 as the gallant colonel doubtless never wanted to have 
 repeated. The strangest part of it all is that the letter was 
 recently found and given to the public by Allen's own 
 son. It is as follows : 
 
 "New Salem, June 21, 1836. 
 "Dear Colonel: 
 
 "I am told that during my absence last week you passed 
 through this place and stated publicly that you were in 
 possession of a fact or facts, which if known to the public 
 would entirely destroy the prospects of N. W. Edwards and 
 myself at the ensuing election, but that through favor to us 
 you would forbear to divulge them. No one has needed 
 favors more than I, and generally few have been less unwill- 
 ing to accept them, but in this case favor to me would be in- 
 justice to the public, and therefore I must beg your pardon 
 for declining it. That I once had the confidence of the people 
 of Sangamon county is sufficiently evident ; and if I have done 
 anything, either by design or misadventure, which if known 
 would subject me to a forfeiture of that confidence, he that 
 knows of that thing, and conceals it, is a traitor to his 
 country's interest. 
 
 "I find myself wholly unable to form any conjecture of 
 what fact or facts, real or supposed, you spoke; but my 
 opinion of your veracity will not permit me for a moment to 
 doubt that you at least believed what you said. I am flattered 
 with the personal regard you manifested for me; but I do 
 hope that on mature reflection you will view the public in- 
 
I36 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 terest as a paramount consideration and therefore let the 
 worst come. 
 
 "I assure you that the candid statement of facts on your 
 part, however low it may sink me, shall never break the ties 
 of personal friendship between us. 
 
 "I wish an answer to this, and you are at liberty to publish 
 both if you choose. 
 
 "Very respectfully, 
 
 "A. Lincoln." 
 Col. Robert Allen. 
 
 Lincoln was sure the letter never would be published 
 or answered, because Allen had no facts whatever upon 
 which to base any such charges. He also knew that Allen, 
 who was a hide-bound Democrat, was in politics the most 
 unreliable man in Sangamon County. A vein of irony 
 runs all through the letter, especially where in such a 
 delicate way he pays tribute to the veracity of Allen, who, 
 although a generous fellow in the ordinary sense of the 
 term, was unlimited in exaggeration and a veritable bag 
 of wind. The effort to smoke him out appears to have 
 been of little effect, but enough appears in Lincoln's let- 
 ter to show that he was thoroughly warmed up. 
 
 A joint debate in which all the candidates participated, 
 took place on the Saturday preceding the election. "The 
 speaking began in the forenoon/' says one of the partici- 
 pants, "the candidates speaking alternately until everyone 
 who could speak had had his turn, generally consuming the 
 whole afternoon." Dr. Early, a Democratic candidate, 
 in his speech took issue with Ninian W. Edwards, stigma- 
 tizing some of the latter's statements as untrue. This 
 brought Edwards to his feet with a similar retort. His 
 angry tone and menacing manner, as he mounted a table 
 and with clenched fist hurled deficane at his challenger, fore- 
 boded a tumultous scene. "The excitement that followed," 
 relates another one of the candidates, R. L. Wilson, "was 
 intense — so much so that righting men thought a duel must 
 settle the difficulty. Mr. Lincoln by the programme fol- 
 lowed Early. Taking up the subject in dispute, he handled 
 it so fairly and with such ability, all were astonished and 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN I37 
 
 pleased. " The turbulent spirits were quieted and the 
 difficulty was easily overcome. 
 
 Lincoln's friend Joshua F. Speed relates that during 
 this campaign he made a speech in Springfield a few days 
 before the election. "The crowd was large," says Speed, 
 "and great numbers of his friends and admirers had come 
 in from the country. I remember that his speech was a 
 very able one, using with great power and originality all 
 the arguments used to sustain the principles of the Whig 
 party as against its great rival, the Democratic party of 
 that day. The speech produced a profound impression — 
 the crowd was with him. George Forquer, an old citizen, 
 a man of recognized prominence and ability as a lawyer, 
 was present. Forquer had been a Whig — one of the cham- 
 pions of the party — but had then recently joined the 
 Democratic party, and almost simultaneous with the change 
 had been appointed Register of the Land Office, which 
 office he then held. Just about that time Mr. Forquer 
 had completed a neat frame house — the best house then 
 in Springfield — and over it had erected a lightning rod, 
 the only one in the place and the first one Mr. Lincoln had 
 ever seen. He afterwards told me that seeing Forquer's 
 lightning rod had led him to the study of the properties 
 of electricity and the utility of the rod as a conductor. 
 At the conclusion of Lincoln's speech the crowd was 
 about dispersing, when Forquer rose and asked to be 
 heard. He commenced by saying that the young man 
 would have to be taken down, and was sorry the task 
 devolved on him. He then proceeded to answer Lincoln's 
 speech in a style which, while it was able and fair, in his 
 whole manner asserted and claimed superiority." Lincoln 
 stood a few steps away with arms folded, carefully watch- 
 ing the speaker and taking in everything he said. He was 
 laboring under a good deal of suppressed excitement. 
 Forquer's sting had roused the lion within him. At length 
 Forquer concluded, and he mounted the stand to reply. 
 
 "I have heard him often since," continued Speed, "in 
 the courts and before the people, but never saw him ap- 
 pear and acquit himself so well as upon that occasion. 
 
I38 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 His reply to Forquer was characterized by great dignity 
 and force. I shall never forget the conclusion of that 
 speech : 'Mr. Forquer commenced his speech by announc- 
 ing that the young man would have to be taken down. 
 It is for you, fellow citizens, not for me to say whether I 
 am up or down. The gentleman has seen fit to allude to 
 my being a }^oung man ; but he forgets that I am older 
 in years than I am in the tricks and trades of politicians. 
 I desire to live, and I desire place and distinction; but I 
 would rather die now than, like the gentleman, live to see 
 the day that I would change my politics for an office worth 
 three thousand dollars a year, and then feel compelled 
 to erect a lightning rod to protect a guilty conscience 
 from an offended God'." The effect of this rejoinder was 
 wonderful, and gave Forquer and his lightning rod a 
 notoriety the extent of which no one envied him. 
 
 In the election which followed, Sangamon County in a 
 political sense was entirely turned over. Hitherto the 
 Democrats had always carried it, but now the Whigs 
 gained control by an average majority of four hundred. 
 This time Lincoln led his ticket. The nine elected were, 
 Abraham Lincoln, Ninian W. Edwards, John Dawson, 
 Andrew McCormick, Dan Stone, Wm. F. Elkin, Robert 
 L. Wilson, Job Fletcher, and Archer G. Herndon. The 
 last two were senators. On assembling at Vandalia they 
 were at once, on account of their stature, dubbed the 
 "Long Nine." In height they averaged over six feet, and 
 in weight over two hundred pounds. "We were not only 
 noted," says one of them, Robert L. Wilson, "for our 
 number and length, but for our combined influence. All 
 the bad or objectional laws passed at that session of the 
 Legislature and for many years afterwards were charge- 
 able to the management and influence of the 'Long Nine'." 
 It is not my purpose to enter into a detailed account of 
 legislation at this period or to rehearse the history of the 
 political conditions. Many and ingenious were the ma- 
 noeuvres, but it would fill page after page to narrate them. 
 One thing which deserves mention in passing was "that 
 Yankee contrivance," the convention system, which for the 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 139 
 
 first time was brought into use. The Democrats, in obe- 
 dience to the behests of Jackson, had adopted it, and, 
 singularly enough, among the very first named for office 
 under the operation of the new system was Stephen A. 
 Douglas, who was elected to the Legislature from Morgan 
 County. Its introduction was attributed to Ebenezer Peck, 
 of Chicago, a Democrat who had once, it was said, served 
 in the Canadian Parliament. This latter supposed con- 
 nection with a monarchical institution was sufficient to 
 bring down on his head the united hostility of the Whigs, 
 a feeling in which even Lincoln joined. But after witness- 
 ing for a time the wonderful effects of its discipline in 
 Democratic ranks, the Whigs too fell in, and resorted to 
 the use of the improved machinery. 
 
 The Legislature of which Mr. Lincoln thus became a 
 member was one that will never be forgotten in Illinois. 
 Its legislation in aid of the so-called internal improvement 
 system was significantly reckless and unwise. The gigan- 
 tic and stupendous operations of the scheme dazzled the 
 eyes of nearly everybody, but in the end it rolled up a debt 
 so enormous as to impede the otherwise marvelous prog- 
 ress of Illinois. The burdens imposed by this Legislature 
 under the guise of improvements became so monumental 
 in size it is little wonder that at intervals for years after- 
 ward the monster of repudiation often showed its hideous 
 face above the waves of popular indignation. These at- 
 tempts at a settlement of the debt brought about a con- 
 dition of things which it is said led the Little Giant, 
 in one of his efforts on the stump, to suggest that "Illinois 
 ought to be honest if she never paid a cent. ,, However 
 much we may regret that Lincoln took part and aided 
 in this reckless legislation, we must not forget that his 
 party and all his constituents gave him their united en- 
 dorsement. They gave evidence of their approval of his 
 course by two subsequent elections to the same office. It 
 has never surprised me in the least that Lincoln fell so 
 harmoniously in with the great system of improvement. 
 He never had what some people call "money sense." By 
 reason of his peculiar nature and construction he was en- 
 
140 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 (lowed with none of the elements of a political economist. 
 He was enthusiastic and theoretical up to a certain degree ; 
 could take hold of, and wrap himself up in, a great moral 
 question ; but in dealing with the financial and commercial 
 interests of a community or government he was equally 
 as inadequate as he was ineffectual in managing the econ- 
 omy of his own household. In this respect alone I always 
 regarded Mr. Lincoln as a weak man. 
 
 One of his biographers, describing his legislative career 
 at this time, says of him: "He was big with prospects: 
 his real public service was just now about to begin. In 
 the previous Legislature he had been silent, observant, 
 studious. He had improved the opportunity so well that 
 of all men in this new body, of equal age in the service, 
 he was the smartest parliamentarian and cunningest 'log 
 roller.' He was fully determined to identify himself con- 
 spicuously with the liberal legislation in contemplation, 
 and dreamed of a fame very different from that which 
 he actually obtained as an anti-slavery leader. It was 
 about this time he told his friend Speed that he aimed 
 at the great distinction of being called the 'DeWitt Clin- 
 ton of Illinois'." 
 
 The representatives in the Legislature from Sangamon 
 County had been instructed by a mass convention of their 
 constituents to vote "for a general system of internal 
 improvements." Another convention of delegates from all 
 the counties in the State met at Vandalia and made a 
 similar recommendation to the members of the Legisla- 
 ture, specifying that it should be "commensurate with the 
 wants of the people." Provision was made for a grid- 
 iron of railroads. The extreme points of the State, east 
 and west, north and south, were to be brought together 
 by thirteen hundred miles of iron rails. Every river and 
 stream of the least importance was to be widened, deepened, 
 and made navigable. A canal to connect the Illinois River 
 and Lake Michigan was to be dug, and thus the great sys- 
 tem was to be made "commensurate with the wants of the 
 people." To effect all these great ends, a loan of twelve 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 141 
 
 million dollars was authorized before the session closed. 
 Work on all these gigantic enterprises was to begin at the 
 earliest practicable moment ; cities were to spring up 
 everywhere ; capital from abroad was to come pouring in ; 
 attracted by the glowing reports of marvelous progress 
 and great internal wealth, people were to come swarming 
 in by colonies, until in the end Illinois was to outstrip all 
 the others, and herself become the Empire State of the 
 union. 
 
 Lincoln served on the Committee on Finance, and 
 zealously labored for the success of the great measures 
 proposed, believing they would ultimately enrich the State, 
 and redound to the glory of all who aided in their passage. 
 In advocating these extensive and far-reaching plans he 
 was not alone. Stephen A. Douglas, John A. McClernand, 
 James Shields, and others prominent in the subsequent 
 history of the State, were equally as earnest in espous- 
 ing the cause of improvement, and sharing with him the 
 glory that attended it. Next in importance came the bill 
 to remove the seat of government from Vandalia. Spring- 
 field, of course, wanted it. So also did Alton, Decatur, 
 Peoria, Jacksonville, and Illiopolis. But the Long Nine, 
 by their adroitness and influence, were too much for their 
 contestants. They made a bold fight for Springfield, in- 
 trusting the management of the bill to Lincoln. The 
 friends of other cities fought Springfield bitterly, but 
 under Lincoln's leadership the Long Nine contested with 
 them every inch of the way. The struggle was warm and 
 protracted. "Its enemies/' relates one of Lincoln's col- 
 leagues (R. L. Wilson), "laid it on the table twice. In 
 those darkest hours when our bill to all appearances was 
 beyond resuscitation, and all our opponents were jubilant 
 over our defeat, and when friends could see no hope, Mr. 
 Lincoln never for one moment despaired ; but collecting his 
 colleagues to his room for consultation, his practical com- 
 mon-sense, his thorough knowledge of human nature, then 
 made him an overmatch for his compeers and for any 
 man that I have ever known." The friends of the bill 
 
142 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 at last surmounted all obstacles, and only a day or two 
 before the close of the session secured its passage by a 
 joint vote of both houses. 
 
 [In 1819 the State capital had been removed from 
 Kaskaskia to an uninhabited spot on the Kaskaskia River 
 which was christened Vandalia. The reason for the trans- 
 fer lay in the hope that the State, which owned the land 
 on which the new capital was located, would profit by the 
 sale of town lots. The hope proved to be futile, since 
 population increased much less rapidly than had been an- 
 ticipated. Moreover, the new capital soon became known 
 as unhealthy, and its inns and boarding houses were no- 
 torious for their poor accommodations and high prices. 
 As a result, agitation for the removal of the seat of gov- 
 ernment began long before the expiration of the twenty 
 year period for which the location had been made. 
 
 As early as 1834 a popular vote on the site of the cap- 
 ital was taken. Alton w r as successful, but by such a nar- 
 row margin that the question admittedly remained un- 
 settled. The decisive struggle came in 1837, when the 
 subject was taken up by the Legislature. To secure the 
 capital for Springfield was the primary purpose of the 
 Sangamon delegation. This fact in large part explains 
 the course of Lincoln and his colleagues on the internal 
 improvement system. Every vote they gave to the various 
 parts of that scheme would strengthen their own position 
 when the capital law should come to a vote. On the 
 fourth ballot Springfield was chosen. In describing the 
 manner in which the new location was made Governor 
 Ford commented acidly, "Thus it was made to cost the 
 State about six millions of dollars to remove the seat of 
 government from Vandalia to Springfield, half of which 
 sum would have purchased all the real estate in that town 
 at three prices."] 
 
 Meanwhile the great agitation against human slavery, 
 which like a rare plant had flourished amid the hills of 
 New England in luxuriant growth, began to make its ap- 
 pearance in the West. Missionaries in the great cause of 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN I43 
 
 human liberty were settling everywhere. Taunts, jeers, 
 ridicule, persecution, assassination even, were destined to 
 prove ineffectual in the effort to suppress or exterminate 
 these pioneers of Abolitionism. These brave but derided 
 apostles carried with them the seed of a great reform. 
 Perhaps, as was then said of them, they were somewhat 
 in advance of their season, and perhaps too, some of the 
 seed might be sown in sterile ground and never come to 
 life, but they comforted themselves with the assurance 
 that it would not all die. A little here and there was des- 
 tined to grow to life and beauty. 
 
 [By the middle thirties Abolition societies were send- 
 ing pamphlets and pictures broadcast throughout the coun- 
 try. Many were inflammatory, and it is not surprising that 
 Southerners became alarmed. During 1836 many Southern 
 legislatures passed resolutions on the subject and trans- 
 mitted them to Northern states in an effort to stop the 
 flood of Abolition literature. In general, these resolu- 
 tions asserted the exclusive right of the slaveholding states 
 to deal with slavery within their own limits, and asked 
 Northern states to suppress by law the anti-slavery societies 
 which were attempting to interfere with this right. When 
 Governor Duncan transmitted several of these resolutions 
 to the Illinois Legislature for its consideration, he precipi- 
 tated a lively debate on slavery and Abolitionism.] 
 
 It is not surprising, I think, that Lincoln should have 
 viewed this New England importation with mingled sus- 
 picion and alarm. Abstractly, and from the standpoint of 
 conscience, he abhored slavery. But born in Kentucky, 
 and surrounded as he was by slave-holding influences, ab- 
 sorbing their prejudices and following in their line of 
 thought, it is not strange, I repeat, that he should fail 
 to estimate properly the righteous indignation and unre- 
 strained zeal of a Yankee Abolitionist. On the last day 
 but one of the session, he solicited his colleagues to sign 
 with him a mild and carefully worded protest against the 
 following resolutions on the subject of domestic slavery, 
 which had been passed by both houses of the Legislature 
 in answer to the Southern protests : 
 
144 LIFE 0F LINCOLN 
 
 "Resolved by the General Assembly of the State of Illinois : 
 
 "That we highly disapprove of the formation of Abolition 
 societies and of the doctrines promulgated by them, 
 
 "That the right of property in slaves is sacred to the slave- 
 holding States by the Federal Constitution, and that they can- 
 not be deprived of that right without their consent, 
 
 "That the General Government cannot abolish slavery in 
 the District of Columbia without the consent of the citizens 
 of said District, without a manifest breach of good faith, 
 
 "That the Governor be requested to transmit to the States 
 of Virginia, Alabama, Mississippi, New York, and Connecti- 
 cut, a copy of the foregoing report and resolutions. ,, 
 
 All the members declined, however, save one, Dan 
 Stone, who with his associate will probably be known long 
 after mention of all other members of the Long Nine has 
 dropped from history. The language and sentiment are 
 clearly Lincolnian, and over twenty years afterward, when 
 it was charged that Lincoln was an Abolitionist, and this 
 protest was cited as proof, it was only necessary to call 
 for a careful reading of the paper for an unqualified and 
 overwhelming refutation of the charge. The records of 
 the Legislature for March 3, 1837, contain this entry: 
 
 "Resolutions upon the subject of domestic slavery having 
 passed both branches of the General Assembly at its present 
 session, the undersigned hereby protest against the passage of 
 the same. 
 
 "They believe that the institution of slavery is founded on 
 both injustice and bad policy, but that the promulgation of 
 abolition doctrines tends rather to increase than abate its 
 evils. 
 
 "They believe that the Congress of the United States has 
 no power under the Constitution to interfere with the institu- 
 tion of slavery in the different States. 
 
 "They believe that the Congress of the United States has 
 the power under the Constitution to abolish slavery in the 
 District of Columbia, but that the power ought not to be exer- 
 cised unless at the request of the people of the District. 
 
 "The difference between these opinions and those contained 
 in the above resolutions is their reason for entering this pro- 
 test. "Dan Stone, 
 
 "A. Lincoln, 
 
 "Representatives from the County of Sangamon." 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 145 
 
 This document so adroitly drawn and worded, this pro- 
 test pruned of any offensive allusions, and cautiously 
 framed so as to suit the temper of the times, stripped of 
 its verbal foliage reveals in naked grandeur the solemn 
 truth that "the institution of slavery is founded on both 
 injustice and bad policy. ,, A quarter of a century later 
 finds one of these protesters righting the injustice and 
 correcting the bad policy of the inhuman and diabolical 
 institution. 
 
 The return of the "Long Nine" to Springfield was the 
 occasion of much enthusiasm and joy. The manifestations 
 of public delight had never been equalled before, save when 
 the steamer Talisman made its famous trip down the 
 Sangamon in 1831. The returning legislators were wel- 
 comed with public dinners and the effervescent buncombe 
 of local orators. Amid the congratulations of warm 
 friends and the approval of their enthusiastic constituents, 
 in which Lincoln received the lion's share of praise, they 
 separated, each departing to his own home. 
 
 After his return from the Legislature, Lincoln deter- 
 mined to remove to Springfield, the county seat, and begin 
 the practice of the law. Having been so instrumental in 
 securing the removal of the State capital from Vandalia, 
 and having received such encouraging assurances from 
 Major John T. Stuart and other leading citizens, he felt 
 confident of a good start. 1 He had little, if any, money, 
 but hoped to find in Springfield, as he had in New Salem, 
 good and influential friends, who, recognizing alike his 
 honesty and his nobility of character, would aid him when- 
 
 1 In the original edition occurs the following extract from a 
 statement which Herndon took from H. E. Dummer, Stuart's 
 partner from 1833 to 1837, on September 16, 1865 : "Lincoln 
 used to come to our office — Stuart's and mine — in Springfield 
 from New Salem and borrow law books. Sometimes he walked 
 but generally rode. He was the most uncouth looking young 
 man I ever saw. He seemed to have but little to say; seemed 
 to feel timid, with a tinge of sadness visible in the countenance, 
 but when he did talk all this disappeared for the time and he 
 demonstrated that he was both strong and acute. He surprised 
 us more and more at every visit." 
 
I46 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 ever a crisis came and their help was needed. In this hope 
 he was by no means in error, for his subsequent history 
 shows that he indeed united his friends to himself with 
 hooks of steel. I had up to this time frequently seen Mr. 
 Lincoln — had often, while visiting my cousins, James and 
 Rowan Herndon, at New Salem, met him at their house — 
 but became warmly attached to him soon after his removal 
 to Springfield. There was something in his tall and 
 angular frame, his ill-fitting garments, honest face, and 
 lively humor that imprinted his individuality on my affec- 
 tion and regard. What impression I made on him I had no 
 means of knowing till many years afterward. He was 
 my senior by nine years, and I looked up to him, naturally 
 enough, as my superior in everything — a thing I continued 
 to do till the end of his days. 
 
 Now that the State capital was to be located at Spring- 
 field, that place began, by way of asserting its social 
 superiority, to put on a good many airs. Wealth made its 
 gaudy display, and thus sought to attain a preeminence 
 from which learning and refinement are frequently cut off. 
 Already, people had settled there who could trace their 
 descent down a long line of distinguished ancestry. The 
 established families were mainly from Kentucky. They 
 reechoed the sentiments and reflected the arrogance and 
 elegance of a slave-holding aristocracy. "The Todds, 
 Stuarts, and Edwardses were there, with priests, dogs, and 
 servants ;" there also were the Mathers, Lambs, Opdykes, 
 Forquers, and Fords. Amid all "the flourishing about in 
 carriages" and the pretentious elegance of that early day 
 was Lincoln. Of origin, doubtful if not unknown ; "poor, 
 without the means of hiding his poverty," he represented 
 yet another importation from Kentucky which is signifi- 
 cantly comprehended by the term, "the poor whites." 
 Springfield, containing between one and two thousand 
 people, was near the northern line of settlement in Illinois. 
 Still it was the centre of a limited area of wealth and re- 
 finement. Its citizens were imbued with the spirit of 
 push and enterprise. Lincoln therefore could not have 
 been thrown into a better or more appreciative community. 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 147 
 
 In March, 1837, he was licensed to practice law. His 
 name appears for the first time as attorney for the plaintiff 
 in the case of Hawthorne vs. Woolridge. He entered the 
 office and became the partner of his comrade in the Black 
 Hawk war, John T. Stuart, who had gained rather an 
 extensive practice, and who, by the loan of sundry text- 
 books several years before, had encouraged Lincoln to 
 continue in the study of law. Stuart had emigrated from 
 Kentucky in 1828, and on account of his nativity, if for 
 no other reason, had great influence with the leading people 
 in Springfield. He used to relate that on the next morning 
 after his arrival in Springfield he was standing in front of 
 the village store, leaning against a post in the sidewalk 
 and wondering how to introduce himself to the community, 
 when he was approached by a well-dressed old gentleman, 
 who, interesting himself in the newcomer's welfare, en- 
 quired after his history and business. 'Tm from Ken- 
 tucky," answered Stuart, "and my profession is that of a 
 lawyer, sir. What is the prospect here?" Throwing his 
 head back and closing his left eye the old gentleman re- 
 flected a moment. "Young man, d d slim chance for 
 
 that kind of combination here," was the response. 
 
 At the time of Lincoln's entry into the office, Stuart was 
 just recovering from the effects of a congressional race in 
 which he had been the loser. He was still deeply absorbed 
 in politics, and was preparing for the next canvass, in 
 which he was finally successful — defeating the wily and 
 ambitious Stephen A. Douglas. In consequence of the 
 political allurements, Stuart did not give to the law his un- 
 divided time or the full force of his energy and intellect. 
 Thus more or less responsibility in the management of 
 business and the conduct of cases soon devolved on Lin- 
 coln. The entries in the account books of the firm are all 
 in the handwriting of Lincoln. Most of the declarations 
 and pleas were written by him also. This sort of exercise 
 was never congenial to him, and it was the only time, save 
 a brief period under Judge Logan, that he served as junior 
 partner and performed the labor required of one who 
 serves in that rather subordinate capacity. He had not 
 
I48 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 yet learned to love work. The office of the firm was in the 
 upper story of a building opposite the north-west corner of 
 the present Courthouse Square. In the room underneath, 
 the county court was held. The furniture was in keeping 
 with the pretensions of the firm — a small lounge or bed, 
 a chair containing a buffalo robe, in which the junior mem- 
 ber was wont to sit and study, a hard wooden bench, a 
 feeble attempt at a book-case, and a table which answered 
 for a desk. Lincoln's first attempt at settlement in Spring- 
 field, which preceded a few days his partnership with 
 Stuart, has been graphically described by his friend, Joshua 
 F. Speed, who generously offered to share his quarters with 
 the young legal aspirant. Speed, who was a prosperous 
 young merchant, reports that Lincoln's personal effects 
 consisted of a pair of saddlebags containing two or three 
 law books and a few pieces of clothing. "He had ridden 
 into town on a borrowed horse," relates Speed, "and en- 
 gaged from the only cabinet-maker in the village a single 
 bedstead. He came into my store, set his saddlebags on 
 the counter, and inquired what the furniture for a single 
 bedstead would cost. I took slate and pencil, made a cal- 
 culation, and found the sum for furniture complete would 
 amount to seventeen dollars in all. Said he : 'It is probably 
 cheap enough ; but I want to say that, cheap as it is, I have 
 not the money to pay. But if you will credit me until 
 Christmas, and my experiment here as a lawyer is a success, 
 I will pay you then. If I fail in that I will probably never 
 pay you at all.' The tone of his voice was so melancholy 
 that I felt for him. I looked up at him and I thought 
 then, as I think now," that I never saw so gloomy and mel- 
 ancholy a face in my life. I said to him, 'So small a debt 
 seems to affect you so deeply, I think I can suggest a plan 
 by which you will be able to attain your end without 
 incurring any debt. I have a very large room and a very 
 large double bed in it, which you are perfectly welcome 
 to share with me if you choose.' 'Where is you room?' he 
 asked. 'Upstairs,' said I, pointing to the stairs leading 
 from the store to my room. Without saying a word he 
 took his saddlebags on his arm, went upstairs, set them 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 149 
 
 down on the floor, came down again, and with a face 
 beaming with pleasure and smiles, exclaimed, 'Well, Speed, 
 I'm moved/ " 
 
 William Butler, who was prominent in the removal of 
 the capital from Vandalia to Springfield, took no little 
 interest in Lincoln, while a member of the Legislature. 
 After his removal to Springfield, Lincoln boarded at But- 
 ler's house for several years. He became warmly attached 
 to the family, and it is probable the matter of pay never 
 entered Butler's mind. He was not only able but willing 
 to befriend the young lawyer in this and many other ways. 
 
 Stephen T. Logan was judge of the Circuit Court, and 
 Stephen A. Douglas was prosecuting attorney. Among 
 the attorneys we find many promising spirits. Edward D. 
 Baker, John T. Stuart, Cyrus Walker, Samuel H. Treat, 
 Jesse B. Thomas, George Forquer, Dan Stone, Ninian 
 W. Edwards, John J. Hardin, Schuyler Strong, A. T. 
 Bledsoe, and Josiah Lamborn — a galaxy of names, each 
 destined to shed more or less lustre on the history of the 
 State. While I am inclined to believe that Lincoln did 
 not, after entering Stuart's office, do as much deep and 
 assiduous studying as people generally credit him with, 
 yet I am confident he absorbed not a little learning by 
 contact with the great minds who thronged about the courts 
 and State Capitol. The books of Stuart and Lincoln, dur- 
 ing 1837, show a practice more extensive than lucrative, 
 for while they received a number of fees, only two or three 
 of them reached fifty dollars ; and one of these has a credit 
 of : "Coat to Stuart, $15.00," showing that they were com- 
 pelled, now and then, even to "trade out" their earnings. 
 The litigation was as limited in importance as in extent. 
 There were no great corporations, as in this progressive 
 day, retaining for counsel the brains of the bar in every 
 county seat, but the greatest as well as the least had to 
 join the general scramble for practice. The court con- 
 sumed as much time deciding who had committed an as- 
 sault or a trespass on a neighbor's ground, as it spent in 
 the solution of questions arising on contracts, or unravel- 
 ing similar legal complications. Lawyers depended for 
 
150 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 success, not on their knowledge of the law or their famili- 
 arity with its underlying principles, but placed their reliance 
 rather on their frontier oratory and the influence of their 
 personal bearing before the jury. 
 
 Lincoln made Speed's store headquarters. There poli- 
 tics, religion, and all other subjects were discussed. There 
 also public sentiment was made. The store had a large 
 fireplace in the rear, and around it the lights of the town 
 collected every evening. As the sparks flew from the 
 crackling logs, another and more brilliant fire flashed when 
 these great minds came into collision. Here were wont to 
 gather Lincoln, Douglas, Baker, Calhoun, Browning, Lam- 
 born, Jesse B. Thomas and others. Only those who were 
 present and listened to these embryonic statesmen and 
 budding orators will ever be able to recall their brilliant 
 thoughts and appreciate their youthful enthusiasm. In 
 the fall and winter of 1837, while I was attending college 
 at Jacksonville, the persecution and death of Elijah P. 
 Love joy at Alton took place. This cruel and uncalled for 
 murder had aroused the anti-slavery sentiment everywhere. 
 It penetrated the college, and both faculty and students 
 were loud and unrestrained in their denunciation of the 
 crime. My father, who was thoroughly pro-slavery in his 
 ideas, believing that the college was too strongly permeated 
 with the virus of Abolitionism, forced me to withdraw 
 from the institution and return home. But it was too late. 
 My soul had absorbed too much of what my father be- 
 lieved was rank poison. The murder of Lovejoy filled 
 me with more desperation than the slave scene in New 
 Orleans did Lincoln ; for while he believed in non-interfer- 
 ence with slavery, so long as the Constitution permitted 
 and authorized its existence, I, although acting nominally 
 with the Whig party up to 1853, struck out for Aboli- 
 tionism pure and simple. 
 
 On my return to Springfield from college, I hired to 
 Joshua F. Speed as clerk in his store. My salary, seven 
 hundred dollars per annum, was considered good pay then. 
 Speed, Lincoln, Charles R. Hurst, and I slept in the room 
 upstairs over the store. I had worked for Speed before 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN I5I 
 
 going to college, and after hiring to him this time again, 
 continued in his employ for several years. The young 
 men who congregated about the store formed a society for 
 the encouragement of debate and literary efforts. Some- 
 times we would meet in a lawyer's office and often in 
 Speed's room. Besides the debates, poems and other orig- 
 inal productions were read. Unfortunately we ruled out 
 the ladies. I am free to admit I would not encourage a 
 similar thing nowadays; but in that early day the young 
 men had not the comforts of books and newspapers which 
 are within the reach of every boy now. Some allowance 
 therefore should be made for us. I have forgotten the 
 name of the society — if it had any — and can only recall a 
 few of its leading spirits. Lincoln, James Matheny, 
 Noah Rickard, Evan Butler, Milton Hay, and Newton 
 Francis were members. I joined also. Matheny was 
 secretary. We were favored with all sorts of literary 
 productions. Lincoln himself entertained us with a few 
 lines of rhyme intended to illustrate some weakness in 
 woman — her frailty, perhaps. Matheny was able several 
 years ago to repeat the one stanza which follows, and that 
 was all he could recall — perhaps it was best he could 
 remember no more : 
 
 "Whatever spiteful fools may say, 
 Each jealous, ranting yelper, 
 No woman ever went astray 
 Without a man to help her. ,, 
 
 Matheny also related the following incident : "Near 
 Hoffman's Row, where the courts were held in 1839-40, 
 lived a shoemaker who frequently would get drunk and 
 invariably whipped his wife. Lincoln, hearing of this, 
 told the man if he ever repeated it he would thrash him 
 soundly himself. Meanwhile he told Evan Butler, Noah 
 Rickard, and myself of it, and we decided if the offense 
 occurred again to join with Lincoln in suppressing it. In 
 due course of time we heard of it. We dragged the offen- 
 der up to the courthouse, stripped him of his shirt, and 
 tied him to a post or pump which stood over the well in 
 
152 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 the yard back of the building. Then we sent for his wife 
 and arming her with a good limb bade her 'light in\ We 
 sat on our haunches and watched the performance. The 
 wife did her work lustily and well. When we thought the 
 culprit had had enough Lincoln released him; we helped 
 him on with his shirt and he crept sorrowfully homeward. 
 Of course he threatened vengeance, but still we heard no 
 further reports of wife-whipping from him." 2 
 
 Besides this organization we had a society in Springfield, 
 which contained and commanded all the culture and talent 
 of the place. Unlike the other one its meetings were public, 
 and reflected great credit on the community. We called it 
 the " Young Men's Lyceum." Late in 1837, Lincoln de- 
 livered before the society a carefully prepared address on 
 the "Perpetuation of Our Free Institutions." The speech 
 was brought out by the burning in St. Louis a few weeks 
 before, by a mob, of a negro. Lincoln took this incident 
 as a sort of text for his remarks. James Matheny was 
 appointed by the Lyceum to request of Lincoln a copy of 
 his speech and see to its publication. 3 The inspiration and 
 and burthen of it was law and order. It has been printed 
 in full so often and is always to be found in the list of 
 Lincoln's public speeches, that I presume I need not re- 
 produce it here. It was highly sophomoric in character and 
 abounded in striking and lofty metaphor. In point of 
 rhetorical effort it excels anything he ever afterward at- 
 tempted. Probably it was the thing people expect from a 
 young man of twenty-eight. The address was published in 
 the Sangamon Journal and created for the young orator 
 a reputation which soon extended beyond the limits of the 
 locality in which he lived. As illustrative of his style of 
 oratory, I beg to introduce the concluding paragraph of 
 the address. Having characterized the surviving soldiers 
 of the Revolution as "living histories," he closes with this 
 thrilling flourish : "But these histories are gone. They can 
 be read no more forever. They were a fortress of 
 
 2 Original footnote. 
 
 3 This sentence and the two which precede it Herndon used as a 
 footnote. The speech was made on January 27, 1838. 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 153 
 
 strength ; but what invading f oeman never could do, the 
 silent artillery of time has — the levelling of its walls. They 
 are gone. They were a forest of giant oaks ; but the all- 
 resistless hurricane has swept over them, and left only here 
 and there a lonely trunk, despoiled of its verdure, shorn 
 of its foliage, unshading and unshaded, to murmur in a 
 few more gentle breezes, and to combat with its mutilated 
 limbs a few more rude storms, then to sink and be no 
 more. They were pillars of the temple of liberty, and now 
 that they have crumbled away, that temple must fall, unless 
 we, their descendants, supply their places with other pillars 
 hewn from the same solid quarry of sober reason. Passion 
 has helped us, but can do so no more. It will in future be 
 our enemy. Reason — cold, calculating, unimpassioned rea- 
 son — must furnish all the materials for our further sup- 
 port and defense. Let these materials be moulded into 
 general intelligence, sound morality, and in particular, a 
 reverence for the Constitution and the laws. . . . Upon 
 these let the proud fabric of freedom rest as the rock of 
 its basis, and as truly as has been said of the only greater 
 institution, 'The gates of hell shall not prevail against it.' ' : 
 
 In time Lincoln's style changed : he became more elo- 
 quent but with less gaudy ornamentation. He grew in 
 oratorical power, dropping gadually the alliteration and 
 rosy metaphor of youth, until he was able at last to deliver 
 that grandest of all orations — the Gettysburg address. 
 
 One evening, while the usual throng of loungers sur- 
 rounded the inviting fireplace in Speed's store, the con- 
 versation turned on political matters. The disputants 
 waxed warm and acrimonious as the discussion proceeded. 
 Business being over for the day, I strolled back and seat- 
 ing myself on a keg listened with eager interest to the 
 battle going on among these would-be statesmen. Douglas, 
 I recollect, was leading on the Democratic side. He had 
 already learned the art of dodging in debate, but still he 
 was subtle, fiery, and impetuous. He charged the Whigs 
 with every blunder and political crime he could imagine. 
 No vulnerable spot seemed to have escaped him. At last, 
 with great vehemence, he sprang up and abruptly made a 
 
154 LIFE 0F LINCOLN 
 
 challenge to those who differed with him to discuss the 
 whole matter publicly, remarking that, "This store is no 
 place to talk politics." In answer to Douglas's challenge 
 the contest was entered into. It took place in the Presby- 
 terian Church. Douglas, Calhoun, Lamborn, and Thomas 
 represented the Democrats ; and Logan, Baker, Browning, 
 and Lincoln, in the order named, presented the Whig side 
 of the question. One evening was given to each man, and 
 it therefore required over a week to complete the tourna- 
 ment. Lincoln occupied the last evening, and although the 
 people by that time had necessarily grown a little tired of the 
 monotony and well-worn repetition, yet Lincoln's manner 
 of presenting his thoughts and answering his Democratic 
 opponents excited renewed interest. So deep was the im- 
 pression he created that he was asked to furnish his speech 
 to the Sangamon Journal for publication and it afterwards 
 appeared in the columns of that organ. 
 
 Meanwhile Mr. Lincoln had attended one special ses- 
 sion of the Legislature in July, 1837. The session was 
 called to take some action with regard to the financial con- 
 dition of the State. The Bank of the United States and 
 the New York and Philadelphia Banks had suspended 
 specie payments. This action had precipitated general 
 ruin among business men and interests over the entire 
 country. The called session of the Legislature was in- 
 tended to save the Illinois banks from impending dissolu- 
 tion. Lincoln retained his position on the Committee on 
 Finance, and had lost none of his enthusiasm over the 
 glorious prospects of internal improvements. The Legis- 
 lature, instead of abridging, only extended the already 
 colossal proportions of the great system. In this they 
 paid no heed to the governor, whose head seems to have 
 been significantly clear on the folly of the enterprise. 
 
 [It is evident that the Legislature's refusal to abandon 
 the system of internal improvements met with the ap- 
 proval of Lincoln's constituents. "On Tuesday last," said 
 the Sangamon Journal of July 29, "several members of the 
 State Legislature and other distinguished men passing 
 through our town, it occurred to some of our citizens that 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 155 
 
 an invitation to a public dinner here, would be but paying 
 them a proper tribute of respect for a faithful perform- 
 ance of their official duties." Accordingly, at two o'clock 
 that afternoon some seventy men sat down to a "sumptuous 
 dinner" at the Rural Hotel. 
 
 After the meal had been concluded, twenty-two regular 
 toasts were offered and received "with great glee." Among 
 them were "Springfield — the magnificence of the Capitol, 
 when completed, will make her the pride, as the hospitality 
 of her citizens has already made her the favorite of our 
 State;" and "The 'Long Nine of Old Sangamon'— Well 
 done good and faithful servants." Twelve or fifteen vol- 
 unteers followed, among them both Lincoln and Douglas. 
 The former gave, "All our friends — They are too nu- 
 merous to be now named individually, while there is no 
 one of them who is not too dear to be forgotten or neg- 
 lected;" while the latter proposed, "The last winter's leg- 
 islation — may its results prove no less beneficial to the 
 whole State than they have to our town." 
 
 Lincoln came in for further honors at a large banquet 
 given at Athens a few days later to the Sangamon delega- 
 tion. There he was toasted twice, once in the words, 
 "He has fulfilled the expectations of his friends and dis- 
 appointed the hopes of his enemies," and again as "One of 
 nature's noblemen."] 
 
 In 1838 Mr. Lincoln was again elected to the Legisla- 
 ture. At this session, as the nominee of the Whig party, 
 he received thirty-eight votes for Speaker. Wm. L. D. 
 Ewing, his successful competitor, the Democratic candidate, 
 received forty-three votes, and was elected. Besides re- 
 taining his place on the Finance Committee, Lincoln was 
 assigned to the Committee on Counties. The enthusiasm 
 and zeal of the friends of internal improvements began 
 to flag now in view of the fact that the bonds issued were 
 beginning to find their true level in point of value. Lin- 
 coln, together with others of kindred views, tried to bol- 
 ster the "system" up ; but soon the discouraging fact 
 became apparent that no more money could be obtained, 
 and the Legislature began to descant on what part of the 
 
156 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 debt was lawful and what unlawful. Repudiation seemed 
 not far off. Mr. Lincoln despaired now of ever becoming 
 the "DeWitt Clinton of Illinois." We find him admitting 
 "his share of the responsibility in the present crisis/' and 
 finally concluding that he was "no financier" after all. 
 
 [During the session of 1838 Lincoln took his place as 
 the undisputed leader of his party in the House. Under 
 his leadership the Whigs were active in support of the 
 two State Banks, and with the backing of the friends of 
 Springfield, he succeeded in thwarting several serious at- 
 tempts to repeal the law which made that town the cap- 
 ital. Of most interest, however, was a plan he formulated 
 for the financial relief of the State. He proposed that the 
 Federal Government sell to Illinois at twenty-five cents per 
 acre all the public land within its limits, and that the 
 State should then resell the land at the minimum govern- 
 ment price of $1.25 per acre. Since there were about 
 twenty million acres of government land in Illinois, the 
 proceeds of the transaction would be more than sufficient 
 to carry the state debt and retire it in a short time. This 
 proposal was put in the form of resolutions in which both 
 the House and Senate concurred, but, needless to say, 
 nothing came of it. 
 
 In the autumn of 1839 the financial condition of the 
 State became so alarming that Governor Carlin called a 
 special session of the General Assembly. On December 
 9 it met in Springfield for the first time. Since the new 
 State House was not yet finished, both branches of the 
 Legislature sat in churches. Although the session lasted 
 several weeks, little was accomplished. Laws were passed 
 reviving the recently forfeited charter of the State Bank 
 at Springfield, forwarding work on the Illinois and Mich- 
 igan Canal, and providing for the settlement of the in- 
 ternal improvement debt. The system of public works, 
 however, was not yet abandoned, and Lincoln was one 
 of the small majority which successfully resisted all at- 
 tempts to repeal it.] 
 
 No sooner had the Legislature adjourned than Lincoln 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 157 
 
 decided — if he had not already so determined — to run for 
 the same place again. He probably wanted it for a vindi- 
 cation. He was pursued now more fiercely than ever, 
 and he was better able to endure the vilification of a po- 
 litical campaign than when he first offered himself to the 
 voters in New Salem. 
 
 Among the Democratic orators who stumped the county 
 at this time was one Taylor — commonly known as Colonel 
 Dick Taylor. He was a showy, bombastic man, with a 
 weakness for fine clothes and other personal adornments. 
 Frequently he was pitted against Lincoln, and indulged in 
 many bitter flings at the lordly ways and aristocratic pre- 
 tensions of the Whigs. He had a way of appealing to "his 
 horny-handed neighbors/ ' and resorted to many other art- 
 ful tricks of a demagogue. When he was one day ex- 
 patiating in his accustomed style, Lincoln, in a spirit of 
 mischief and, as he expressed it, "to take the wind out of 
 his sails," slipped up to the speaker's side, and catching 
 his vest by the lower edge gave it a sharp pull. The latter 
 instantly opened and revealed to his astonished hearers 
 a ruffled shirt-front glittering with watch-chain, seals, and 
 other golden jewels. The effect was startling. The speaker 
 stood confused and dumbfounded, while the audience 
 roared with laughter. When it came Lincoln's turn to 
 answer he covered the gallant colonel over in this style: 
 "While Colonel Taylor was making these charges against 
 the Whigs over the country, riding in fine carriages, wear- 
 ing ruffled shirts, kid gloves, massive gold watch-chains 
 with large gold-seals, and flourishing a heavy gold-headed 
 cane, I was a poor boy, hired on a flat-boat at eight dollars 
 a month, and had only one pair of breeches to my back, 
 and they were buckskin. Now if you know the nature of 
 buckskin when wet and dried by the sun, it will shrink; 
 and my breeches kept shrinking until they left several 
 inches of my legs bare between the tops of my socks and 
 the lower part of my breeches; and whilst I was grow- 
 ing taller they were becoming shorter, and so much tighter 
 that they left a blue streak around my legs that can be 
 
I58 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 seen to this day. If you call this aristocracy I plead guilty 
 to the charge." 4 
 
 It was during this same canvass that Lincoln by his 
 manly interference protected his friend E. D. Baker from 
 the anger of an infuriated crowd. Baker was a brilliant 
 and effective speaker, and quite as full too of courage as 
 invective. He was addressing a crowd in the court room, 
 which was immediately underneath Stuart and Lincoln's 
 office. Just above the platform on which the speaker 
 stood was a trap door in the floor, which opened into Lin- 
 coln's office. Lincoln at the time, as was often his habit, 
 was lying on the floor looking down through the door 
 at the speaker. I was in the body of the crowd. Baker 
 was hot-headed and impulsive, but brave as a lion. Grow- 
 ing warm in his arraignment of the Democratic party, he 
 charged that "wherever there was a land office there was 
 a Democratic newspaper to defend its corruptions." This 
 angered the brother of the editor of our town paper, who 
 was present, and who cried out, "Pull him down," at the 
 same time advancing from the crowd as if to perform the 
 task himself. Baker, his face pale with excitement, squared 
 himself for resistance. A shuffling of feet, a forward 
 movement of the crowd, and great confusion followed. 
 Just then a long pair of legs was seen dangling from 
 the aperture above, and instantly the figure of Lincoln 
 dropped on the platform. Motioning with his hands for 
 silence and not succeeding, he seized a stone water-pitcher 
 standing near by, threatening to break it over the head 
 of the first man who laid hands on Baker. "Hold on, gen- 
 tlemen," he shouted, "this is the land of free speech. Mr. 
 Baker has a right to speak and ought to be heard. I am 
 here to protect him, and no man shall take him from this 
 stand if I can prevent it." His interference had the de- 
 sired effect. Quiet was soon restored, and the valiant 
 Baker was allowed to proceed. I was in the back part of 
 the crowd that night, and an enthusiastic Baker man my- 
 self. I knew he was a brave man, and even if Lincoln 
 
 4 Ms. statement of Ninian W. Edwards to Herndon. 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 1 59 
 
 had not interposed, I felt sure he wouldn't have been 
 pulled from the platform without a bitter struggle. 
 
 This canvass — 1840 — was Mr. Lincoln's last campaign 
 for the Legislature. Feeling that he had had enough honor 
 out of the office he probably aspired for a place of more 
 distinction. Jesse B. Thomas, one of the men who had 
 represented the Democratic side in the great debate in the 
 Presbyterian Church, in a speech at the courthouse dur- 
 ing this campaign, indulged in some fun at the expense 
 of the "Long Nine," reflecting somewhat more on Lincoln 
 than the rest. The latter was not present, but being ap- 
 prised by his friends of what had been said, hastened to 
 the meeting, and soon after Thomas closed, stepped upon 
 the platform and responded. The substance of his speech 
 on this occasion was not so memorable as the manner of 
 its delivery. He felt the sting of Thomas's allusions, and 
 for the first time, on the stump or in public, resorted to 
 mimicry for effect. In this, as will be seen later along, 
 he was without a rival. He imitated Thomas in gesture 
 and voice, at times caricaturing his walk and the very mo- 
 tion of his body. Thomas, like everybody else, had some 
 peculiarities of expression and gesture, and these Lincoln 
 succeeded in rendering more prominent than ever. The 
 crowd yelled and cheered as he continued. Encouraged 
 by these demonstrations, the ludicrous features of the 
 speaker's performance gave way to intense and scathing 
 ridicule. Thomas, who was obliged to sit near by and 
 endure the pain of this unique ordeal, was ordinarily sen- 
 sitive; but the exhibition goaded him to desperation. He 
 was so thoroughly wrought up with suppressed emotion 
 that he actually gave way to tears. I was not a witness 
 of this scene, but the next day it was the talk of the town, 
 and for years afterwards it was called the "skinning" of 
 Thomas. Speed was there, so were A. Y. Ellis, Ninian 
 W. Edwards, and David Davis, who was just then com- 
 ing into prominence. The whole thing was so unlike 
 Lincoln, it was not soon forgotten either by his friends 
 or enemies. I heard him afterwards say that the recol- 
 lection of his conduct that evening filled him w T ith the 
 
l60 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 deepest chagrin. He felt that he had gone too far, and to 
 rid his good-nature of a load, hunted up Thomas and made 
 ample apology. The incident and its sequel proved that 
 Lincoln could not only be vindictive but manly as well. 
 
 He was selected as an Elector on the Harrison ticket for 
 President in 1840, and as such stumped over a good por- 
 tion of the State. In debate he frequently met Douglas, 
 who had already become the standard-bearer and expon- 
 ent of Democratic principles. These joint meetings were 
 spirited affairs sometimes ; but at no time did he find the 
 Little Giant averse to a conflict. "He was very sensitive/' 
 relates Joseph Gillespie, one of his colleagues on the 
 stump, "where he thought he had failed to meet the ex- 
 pectations of his friends. I remember a case. He was 
 pitted by the Whigs in 1840 to debate with Mr. Douglas, 
 the Democratic champion. Lincoln did not come up to 
 the requirements of the occasion. He was conscious of 
 his failure, and I never saw any man so much distressed. 
 He begged to be permitted to try it again, and was re- 
 luctantly indulged; and in the next effort he transcended 
 our highest expectations. I never heard and never expect 
 to hear such a triumphant vindication as he then gave of 
 Whig measures or policy. He never after, to my knowl- 
 edge, fell below himself." 
 
 The campaign ended in his election to the Legislature. 
 He was again the caucus nominee of the Whigs for 
 Speaker, receiving thirty-six votes; but his former an- 
 tagonist, William L. D. Ewing, was elected by a majority 
 of ten votes over him. The proceedings of, and laws 
 enacted by, this Legislature are so much a matter of his- 
 tory and so generally known that it seems a needless task 
 on my part to enter into details. It is proper to note, 
 however, in passing, that Mr. Lincoln was neither prompt 
 nor constant in his attendance during the session. He 
 had been to a certain extent "upset" by another love af- 
 fair, the particulars of which must be assigned to a fu- 
 ture chapter. 
 
 [The session of 1840-41 was a momentous one. De- 
 cember 7, 1840 was the date on which the Legislature nor- 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN l6l 
 
 mally would have convened, but Governor Carlin sum- 
 moned it to meet two weeks before that date in order that 
 some provision for the payment of interest on the state 
 debt, due January 1, 1841, might be made. The internal 
 improvement system, in the adoption of which Lincoln 
 had played such a prominent part, had collapsed, with 
 the result that Illinois was left with an enormous debt 
 and an empty treasury. After much oratory on the sub- 
 ject a brief law w T as passed, virtually abandoning the sys- 
 tem and legalizing the hypothecation of state bonds to raise 
 funds for the next interest payment. By the same method 
 the payment of interest on July 1, 1841, was met, but for 
 several years thereafter Illinois made no effort to meet 
 her obligations. 
 
 The close of the preliminary session of 1840 was marked 
 by a ludicrous incident in which Lincoln was the principal 
 actor. During the last session the Legislature had legalized 
 the suspension of specie payment by the state banks until 
 the end of the next session. If the special session were to 
 end on December 5, payment would have to be resumed 
 at once. Knowing that the banks, particularly the one 
 at Springfield, wanted a longer period of suspension, Lin- 
 coln and the Whigs determined to prevent adjournment, 
 so that the special and regular sessions would merge into 
 one, and the banks be relieved of the necessity of specie 
 payment until the close of the regular session in the spring 
 of 1841. 
 
 Outnumbered as they were in the House, the Whigs 
 determined to prevent a quorum on the afternoon of the 
 5th, so that the House could not concur in the resolution 
 of adjournment which the Senate had already passed. 
 Accordingly, only Lincoln and a few trusted friends ap- 
 peared. The Democrats discovered the ruse, and sent 
 the sergeant at arms to bring in the missing members. He 
 returned without the necessary number, whereupon the 
 doors were locked to prevent the escape of the Whigs al- 
 ready present. However, while Lincoln and his friends 
 were enjoying the discomfiture of their angry opponents, 
 several sick Democrats appeared and a quorum was un- 
 
l62 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 expectedly announced. Caught unawares, the Whigs lost 
 their heads and recorded their votes, and then attempted 
 to escape. Finding the doors locked, Lincoln, Joseph Gil- 
 lespie and one or two others raised a window and jumped 
 out — too late, of course, to have any effect other than to 
 provide the Democrats with capital material for ridicule. 
 Since Lincoln's legs "reached nearly from the window to 
 the ground,'' asked the State Register, might it not be a 
 good idea to raise the State House "one story higher, in 
 order to have the House sit in the third story! so as to 
 prevent members from jumping out of the windows?" 
 Then "Mr. Lincoln will in the future have to climb down 
 the spout" 
 
 During the regular session occurred a party battle of 
 the utmost importance. Aroused by a decision manifestly 
 partisan, and by the expectation of another soon to fol- 
 low, the Democrats determined to destroy the Whig ma- 
 jority on the State Supreme Court. This was to be done 
 by the enlargement of the Court from four to nine mem- 
 bers, thus substituting a Democratic preponderance of six 
 to three for the existing three to one of the Whigs. Party 
 lines were tightly drawn, and the Whigs fought so stren- 
 uously that the measure was passed by the slim majority 
 of two votes. Yet in this important contest Lincoln took 
 no part other than to record his vote with his party 
 friends.! 
 
CHAPTER NIN 
 
 THE YEAR 184O FINDS MR. LINCOLN ENTERING HIS THIRTY- 
 
 second year and still unmarried. "I have come to the 
 conclusion/' he suggests in a facetious letter, two years 
 before, "never again to think of marrying." But mean- 
 while he had seen more of the world. The State Capital 
 had been removed to Springfield, and he soon observed 
 the power and influence one can exert with high family 
 and social surroundings to draw upon. The sober truth 
 is that Lincoln was inordinately ambitious. He had al- 
 ready succeeded in obtaining no inconsiderable political 
 recognition, and numbered among his party friends men 
 of wealth and reputation; but he himself was poor, be- 
 sides lacking the graces and ease of bearing obtained 
 through mingling in polite society — in fact, to use the ex- 
 pressive language of Mary Owens, he was "deficient in 
 those little links which make up the chain of woman's 
 happiness. " Conscious, therefore, of his humble rank in 
 the social scale, how natural that he should seek by mar- 
 riage in an influential family to establish strong connec- 
 tions and at the same time foster his political fortunes! 
 This may seem an audacious thing to insinuate, but on 
 no other basis can we reconcile the strange course of his 
 courtship and the tempestuous chapters in his married 
 life. It is a curious history, and the facts, long chained 
 down, are gradually coming to the surface. When all is at 
 last known, the world I believe will divide its censure be- 
 tween Lincoln and his wife. 
 
 Mary Todd, who afterwards became the wife of Mr. 
 Lincoln, was born in Lexington, Kentucky, December 13, 
 1818. "My mother," related Mrs. Lincoln to me in 1865, 
 
164 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 "died when I was still young. I was educated by Madame 
 Mentelle, a lady who lived opposite Mr. Clay's, and who 
 was an accomplished French scholar. Our conversation 
 at school was carried on entirely in French — in fact we 
 were allowed to speak nothing else. I finished my edu- 
 cation at Mrs. Ward's Academy, an institution to which 
 many people from the North sent their daughters. In 
 1837 I visited Springfield, Illinois, remaining three months. 
 I returned to Kentucky, remaining till 1839, when I again 
 set out for Illinois, which State finally became my home. ,, 
 
 The paternal grandfather of Mary Todd, General Levi 
 Todd, was born in 1756, was educated in Virginia, and 
 studied law in the office of General Lewis of that State. 
 He emigrated to Kentucky, was a lieutenant in the cam- 
 paigns conducted by General George Rogers Clark against 
 the Indians, and commanded a battalion in the battle of 
 Blue Licks, August 1782, where his brother, John Todd, 
 was killed. He succeeded Daniel Boone in command of 
 the militia, ranking as major-general, and was one of the 
 first settlers in Lexington, Ky. February 25, 1779, he 
 married Miss Jane Briggs. The seventh child of this 
 union, born February 25, 1791, was Robert S. Todd, the 
 father of Mrs. Lincoln. On her maternal side Mrs. Lin- 
 coln was highly connected. Her great-grandfather, Gen- 
 eral Andrew Porter, was in the war of the Revolution. He 
 succeeded Peter Muhlenberg as major-general of the Penn- 
 sylvania militia. Her great uncles, George B. Porter, 
 who was governor of Michigan, James Madison Porter, 
 secretary of the navy under President Tyler, and David 
 R. Porter, governor of Pennsylvania, were men of abil- 
 ity and distinction. Her mother, Anne Eliza Parker, was 
 a cousin of her father, Robert S. Todd. The latter had 
 served in both houses of the Kentucky Legislature, and 
 for over twenty years was president of the Bank of Ken- 
 tucky of Lexington. He died July 16, 1849. 
 
 To a young lady in whose veins coursed the blood that 
 had come down from this long and distinguished an- 
 cestral line, who could even go back in the genealogical 
 chart to the sixth century, Lincoln, the child of Nancy 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 165 
 
 Hanks, whose descent was dimmed by the shadow of 
 tradition, was finally united in marriage. 
 
 When Mary Todd came to her sister's house in Spring- 
 field in 1839, she was in her twenty-first year. She was a 
 young woman of strong, passionate nature and quick 
 temper, and had "lef t her home in Kentucky to avoid living 
 under the same roof with a stepmother/' * She came to live 
 with her oldest sister, Elizabeth, who was the wife of 
 Lincoln's colleague in the Legislature, Ninian W. Edwards. 
 She had two other sisters, Frances, married to Dr. Willian 
 Wallace, and Anne, who afterwards became the wife of 
 C. M. Smith, a prominent and wealthy merchant. They 
 all resided in Springfield. She was of the average height, 
 weighing when I first saw her about a hundred and thirty 
 pounds. She was rather compactly built, had a well 
 rounded face, rich dark-brown hair, and bluish-gray eyes. 
 In her bearing she was proud, but handsome and vivacious. 
 Her education had been in no wise defective; she was a 
 good conversationalist, using with equal fluency the French 
 and English languages. When she used a pen, its point 
 was sure to be sharp, and she wrote with wit and ability. 
 She not only had a quick intellect but an intuitive judg- 
 ment of men and their motives. Ordinarily she was 
 affable and even charming in her manners ; but when 
 offended or antagonized, her agreeable qualities instantly 
 disappeared beneath a wave of stinging satire or sarcastic 
 bitterness, and her entire better nature was submerged. In 
 her figure and physical proportions, in education, bearing, 
 temperament, history — in everything she was the exact 
 reverse of Lincoln. 
 
 On her return to Springfield she immediately entered 
 society, and soon became one of the belles, leading the 
 young men of the town a merry dance. She was a very 
 shrewd observer, and discreetly and without apparent effort 
 kept back all the unattractive elements in her unfortunate 
 organization. Her trenchant wit, affability, and candor 
 pleased the young men not less than her culture and varied 
 
 1 Statement of Mrs. Ninian W. Edwards (Elizabeth Todd) to 
 Herndon, August 3, 1887. 
 
l66 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 accomplishments impressed the older ones with whom she 
 came in contact. The first time I met her was at a dance 
 at the residence of Colonel Robert Allen, a gentleman men- 
 tioned in the preceding chapter. I engaged her for a waltz, 
 and as we glided through it I fancied I never before had 
 danced with a young lady who moved with such grace and 
 ease. A few moments later, as we were promenading 
 through the hall, I thought to compliment her graceful 
 dancing by telling her that while I was conscious of my 
 own awkward movements, she seemed to glide through 
 the waltz with the ease of a serpent. The strange com- 
 parison was as unfortunate as it was hideous. I saw it in 
 an instant, but too late to recall it. She halted for a mo- 
 ment, drew back, and her eyes flashed as she retorted : 
 "Mr. Herndon, comparison to a serpent is rather severe 
 irony, especially to a newcomer." 
 
 Through the influence of Joshua F. Speed, who was a 
 warm friend of the Edwardses, Lincoln was led to call on 
 Miss Todd. He was charmed with her wit and beauty, 
 no less than by her excellent social qualities and pro- 
 found knowledge of the strong and weak points in indi- 
 vidual character. One visit succeeded another. It was the 
 old story. Lincoln had again fallen in love. "I have often 
 happened in the room where they were sitting," relates 
 Mrs. Edwards, describing this courtship, "and Mary in- 
 variably led the conversation. Mr. Lincoln would sit at her 
 side and listen. He scarcely said a word, but gazed on 
 her as if irresistibly drawn towards her by some superior 
 and unseen power. He could not maintain himself in a 
 continued conversation with a lady reared as Mary was. 
 He was not educated and equipped mentally to make him- 
 self either interesting or attractive to the ladies. He was a 
 good, honest, and sincere young man whose rugged, manly 
 qualities I admired; but to me he somehow seemed ill- 
 constituted by nature and education to please such a woman 
 as my sister. Mary was quick, gay, and in the social world 
 somewhat brilliant. She loved show and power, and was 
 the most ambitious woman I ever knew. She used to 
 contend when a girl, to her friends in Kentucky, that she 
 was destined to marry a President. I have heard her say 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN l6/ 
 
 that myself, and after mingling in society in Springfield 
 she^ repeated the seemingly absurd and idle boast. Al- 
 though Mr. Lincoln seemed to be attached to Mary, and 
 fascinated by her wit and sagacity, yet I soon began to 
 doubt whether they could always be so congenial. In a 
 short time I told Mary my impression that they were not 
 suited, or, as some persons who believe matches are made 
 in heaven would say, not intended for each other." 
 
 But Mrs. Edwards' advice was seed sown on rocky soil. 
 The courtship ran on smoothly to the point of engagement, 
 when a new and disturbing element loomed up ahead in 
 their paths. It was no less than the dashing and handsome 
 Stephen A. Douglas, who now appeared on the scene in 
 the guise of a rival. As a society man Douglas was in- 
 finitely more accomplished, more attractive and influential 
 than Lincoln, and that he should supplant the latter in the 
 afifections of the proud and aristocratic Miss Todd is not 
 to be marveled at. He was unremitting in his attentions 
 to the lady, promenaded the streets arm-in-arm with her — 
 frequently passing Lincoln — and in every way made plain 
 his intention to become the latter's rival. There are those 
 who believe this warm reciprocation of young Douglas' 
 afifection was a mere flirtation on Mary Todd's part, in- 
 tended to spur Lincoln up, to make him more demonstra- 
 tive, and manifest his love more positively and with greater 
 fervor. But a lady relative who lived with Lincoln and 
 his wife for two years after their marriage is authority 
 for the statement coming from Mrs. Lincoln herself that 
 "she loved Douglas, and but for her promise to marry 
 Lincoln would have accepted him." The unfortunate atti- 
 tude she felt bound to maintain between these two young 
 men ended in a spell of sickness. Douglas, still hopeful, 
 was warm in the race, but the lady's physician, — her 
 brother-in-law, — Dr. William Wallace, to whom she con- 
 fided the real cause of her illness, saw Douglas and in- 
 duced him to end his pursuit, 2 which he did with great 
 reluctance. 
 
 If Miss Todd intended by her flirtation with Douglas 
 
 2 Statement of Mrs. Harriet Chapman to Herndon, November 
 8, 1887. 
 
1 68 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 to test Lincoln's devotion, she committed a grievous error. 
 If she believed, because he was ordinarily so undemon- 
 strative, that he was without will-power and incapable of 
 being aroused, she certainly did not comprehend the man. 
 Lincoln began now to feel the sting. Miss Todd's spur 
 had certainly operated and with awakening effect. One 
 evening Lincoln came into our store and called for his 
 warm friend Speed. Together they walked back to the fire- 
 place, where Lincoln, drawing from his pocket a letter, 
 asked Speed to read it. 'The letter," relates Speed, "was 
 addressed to Mary Todd, and in it he made a plain state- 
 ment of his feelings, telling her that he had thought the 
 matter over calmly and with great deliberation, and now 
 felt that he did not love her sufficiently to warrant her in 
 marrying him. This letter he desired me to deliver. Upon 
 my declining to do so he threatened to intrust it to some 
 other person's hand. I reminded him that the moment 
 he placed the letter in Miss Todd's hand, she would have 
 the advantage over him. 'Words are forgotten,' I said, 'mis- 
 understood, unnoticed in a private conversation, but once 
 put your words in writing and they stand a living and 
 eternal monument against you.' Thereupon I threw the 
 unfortunate letter in the fire. 'Now,' I continued, 'if you 
 have the courage of manhood, go see Mary yourself ; tell 
 her, if you do not love her, the facts, and that you will not 
 marry her. Be careful not to say too much, and then leave 
 at your earliest opportunity.' Thus admonished, he but- 
 toned his coat, and with a rather determined look started 
 out to perform the serious duty for which I had just given 
 him explicit directions." 
 
 That night Speed did not go upstairs to bed with us, but 
 under pretense of wanting to read, remained in the store 
 below. He was waiting for Lincoln's return. Ten o'clock 
 passed, and still the interview with Miss Todd had not 
 ended. At length, shortly after eleven, he came stalking in. 
 Speed was satisfied, from the length of Lincoln's stay, 
 that his directions had not been followed. 
 
 "Well, old fellow, did you do as I told you and as you 
 promised ?" were Speed's first words. 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 169 
 
 "Yes, I did," responded Lincoln, thoughtfully, "and 
 when I told Mary I did not love her, she burst into tears 
 and almost springing from her chair and wringing her 
 hands as if in agony, said something about the deceiver 
 being himself deceived." Then he stopped. 
 
 "What else did you say?" inquired Speed, drawing the 
 facts from him. 
 
 "To tell you the truth Speed, it was too much for me. 
 I found the tears trickling down my own cheeks. I caught 
 her in my arms and kissed her." 
 
 "And that's how you broke the engagement," sneered 
 Speed. "You not only acted the fool, but your conduct 
 was tantamount to a renewal of the engagement, and in 
 decency you cannot back down now." 
 
 "Well," drawled Lincoln, "if I am in again, so be it. 
 It's done, and I shall abide by it." 3 
 
 Convinced now that Miss Todd regarded the engagement 
 ratified, — instead of broken, as her tall suitor had at first 
 intended, — Lincoln continued his visits, and things moved 
 on smoothly as before. Douglas had dropped out of the 
 race, and everything pointed to an early marriage. It 
 was probably at this time that Mr. and Mrs. Edwards 
 began to doubt the wisdom of the marriage, and now and 
 then to intimate the same to the lady; but they went no 
 farther in their opposition and placed no obstacle in their 
 paths. 
 
 The time fixed for the marriage was the first day in 
 January, 184 1/ Careful preparations for the happy occa- 
 sion were made at the Edwards mansion. The house 
 underwent the customary renovation; the furniture was 
 properly arranged, the rooms neatly decorated, the supper 
 prepared, and the guests invited. The latter assembled on 
 the evening in question, and awaited in expectant pleasure 
 the interesting ceremony of marriage. The bride, be- 
 decked in veil and silken gown, and nervously toying with 
 the flowers in her hair, sat in the adjoining room. Nothing 
 
 3 Joshua F. Speed's statement to Herndon, September 17, 1866. 
 *For a discussion of this much-debated episode in Lincoln's 
 life see Editor's Preface, pp. xliii-xliv. 
 
170 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 was lacking but the groom. For some strange reason he 
 had been delayed. An hour passed, and the guests as well 
 as the bride were becoming restless. But they were all 
 doomed to disappointment. Another hour passed; mes- 
 sengers were sent out over town, and each returning with 
 the same report, it became apparent that Lincoln, the prin- 
 cipal in this little drama, had purposely failed to appear! 
 The bride, in grief, disappeared to her room ; the wedding 
 supper was left untouched ; the guests quietly and won- 
 deringly withdrew; the lights in the Edwards mansion 
 were blown out, and darkness settled over all for the night. 
 What the feelings of a lady as sensitive, passionate, and 
 proud as Miss Todd were we can only imagine — no one can 
 ever describe them. By daybreak, after persistent search, 
 Lincoln's friends found him. Restless, gloomy, miserable, 
 desperate, he seemed an object of pity. His friends, Speed 
 among the number, fearing a tragic termination, watched 
 him closely in their rooms day and night. "Knives and 
 razors, and every instrument that could be used for self- 
 destruction were removed from his reach." 5 Mrs. Ed- 
 wards did not hesitate to regard him as insane, and of 
 course her sister Mary shared in that view. But the case 
 was hardly so desperate. His condition began to improve 
 after a few weeks, and a letter written to his partner 
 Stuart, on the 23d of January, 1841, three weeks after 
 the scene at Edward's house, reveals more perfectly how 
 he felt. He says : "I am now the most miserable man 
 living. If what I feel were equally distributed to the 
 whole human family, there would not be one cheerful face 
 on earth. Whether I shall ever be better, I cannot tell; 
 I awfully forebode I shall not. To remain as I am is 
 impossible. I must die or be better, as it appears to me. 
 ... I fear I shall be unable to attend to any business here, 
 and a change of scene might help me. If I could be myself 
 I would rather remain at home with Judge Logan. I can 
 write no more." 
 
 [A letter to Stuart recommending Dr. A. G. Henry for 
 postmaster of Springfield, written three days earlier than 
 the one just quoted, throws more light on Lincoln's con- 
 Joshua F. Speed to Herndon, January 6, 1866. 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 171 
 
 dition at this time. "You know I desired Dr. Henry to 
 have that place when you left ;" he writes, "I now desire 
 it more than ever. I have within the last few days, been 
 making a most discreditable exhibition of myself in the 
 way of hypochondriasm and thereby got an impression that 
 Dr. Henry is necessary to my existence. Unless he gets 
 that place he leaves Springfield. . . . My heart is very 
 much set upon it. Pardon me for not writing more ; I have 
 not sufficient composure to write a long letter. ,, 6 ] 
 
 During all this time the Legislature to which Lincoln 
 belonged was in special session, but for a time he was 
 unable to attend. 7 Towards the close of the session, how- 
 ever, he resumed his seat. He took little if any part in 
 the proceedings, made no speeches, and contented himself 
 with answers to the monotonous roll-call, and votes on a 
 few of the principal measures. After the adjournment of 
 the Legislature, his warm friend Speed, who had disposed 
 of his interests in Springfield, induced Lincoln to accom- 
 pany him to Kentucky. Speed's parents lived in a magni- 
 ficent place a few miles from Louisville. Their farm was 
 well stocked, and they, in the current phrase, "lived well. ,, 
 Thither he was taken, and there amid the quiet surround- 
 
 6 Angle, New Letters and Papers of Lincoln, p. 8-9. 
 
 7 "From the opening of the session November 23, 1840, until 
 January 1, 1841, Lincoln, as the Whig floor leader, had been con- 
 stant in attendance, having missed but five or six of the many 
 roll-calls during those busy five weeks. Beginning with Friday, 
 January 1, he showed negligence. He was present but once on 
 that day and twice on the next, each time at the close of busi- 
 ness. On Monday he did not appear at all, notwithstanding much 
 business was transacted, some of particular interest to Lincoln. 
 On Tuesday he was again absent except at the opening of the 
 House when he voted for the incorporation of Galesburg. On 
 Wednesday he voted in the morning and again just before ad- 
 journment. On Thursday Lincoln answered one roll-call in the 
 forenoon, but did not vote on two important questions imme- 
 diately thereafter; during the afternoon no vote was taken. From 
 January 13 until January 21, 1841, he answered to his name 
 only once. . . . 
 
 "By the beginning of the fourth week in January, 1841, Lincoln 
 had so far regained his composure as again to attend regularly 
 the sessions of the House, and thereafter we find his vote recorded 
 on nearly every roll-call." Beveridge, Abraham Lincoln, I., 
 pp. 289-90. 
 
172 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 ings he found the "change of scene" which he told Stuart 
 might help him. He was living under the cloud of melan- 
 cholia, and sent to the Sangamon Journal a few lines 
 under the gloomy title of "Suicide. " They were published 
 in the paper, and a few years since I hunted over the files, 
 and coming across the number containing them, was as- 
 tonished to find that some one had cut them out. I have 
 always supposed it was done by Lincoln or by some one at 
 his instigation. 
 
 Speed's mother was much impressed with the tall and 
 swarthy stranger her son had brought with him. She was 
 a God-fearing mother, and besides aiding to lighten his 
 spirits, gave him a Bible, advising him to read it and by 
 adopting its precepts obtain a release from his troubles 
 which no other agency, in her judgment, could bring him. 
 "He was much depressed. At first he almost contemplated 
 suicide. In the deepest of his depression he said one day 
 he had done nothing to make any human being remember 
 that he had lived ; and that to connect his name with the 
 events transpiring in his day and generation, and so impress 
 himself upon them as to link his name with something that 
 would redound to the interest of his fellow-men, was what 
 he desired to live for." 8 
 
 At the time of Lincoln's visit at the Speed mansion, 
 James Speed, a brother of Joshua, and afterwards Attor- 
 ney-General in Lincoln's Cabinet, was practicing law in 
 Louisville. Lincoln came into his office daily. "He read 
 my books," related Mr. Speed in after years ; "talked with 
 me about his life, his reading, his studies, his aspirations." 
 Mr. Speed discredits the thought that Lincoln was insane 
 at the time, although he understood he was saddened and 
 melancholy over an unfortunate love affair. The congenial 
 associations at the Speed farm, 9 the freedom from un- 
 
 8 Joshua F. Speed to Herndon, February 9, 1866. 
 
 9 It has recently been shown that Lincoln's visit to the Speed 
 home was of much shorter duration than has been generally 
 supposed. On August 2, 1841, he was still in Springfield, and 
 by mid-September he was again in Illinois. Beveridge, I., 318n. 
 In the original edition Herndon used the quotation from James 
 Speed as a footnote. 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 173 
 
 pleasant reminders, the company of his staunch friend, 
 and above all the motherly care and delicate attention of 
 Mrs. Speed exerted a marked influence over Lincoln. 
 He improved gradually, day by day gaining strength and 
 confidence in himself, until at last the great cloud lifted 
 and passed away. In the fall he and Speed returned to 
 Springfield. At this point, as affording us the most reliable 
 account of Mr. Lincoln's condition and views, it is proper 
 to insert a portion of his correspondence with Mr. Speed. 
 For some time Mr. Speed was reluctant to give these letters 
 to the world. After some argument, however, he at last 
 shared my view that they were properly a matter of his- 
 tory, and sent them to me, accompanied by a letter, in 
 which he says : 
 
 "I enclose you copies of all the letters of any interest 
 from Mr. Lincoln to me. Some explanation may be 
 needed that you may rightly understand their import. 
 In the winter of 1840 and 1841, he was unhappy about 
 his engagement to his wife — not being entirely satisfied that 
 his heart was going with his hand. How much he suffered 
 then on that account none knew so well as myself ; he dis- 
 closed his whole heart to me. 10 
 
 "In the summer of 1841 I became engaged to my wife. 
 He was here on a visit when I courted her ; and, strange 
 to say, something of the same feeling which I regarded 
 as so foolish in him took possession of me and kept me 
 very unhappy from the time of my engagement until I was 
 married. This will explain the deep interest he manifested 
 in his letters on my account. 
 
 "One thing is plainly descernible; if I had not been 
 married and happy — far more happy than I ever expected 
 to be — he would not have married/' 
 
 10 "Lincoln wrote a letter — a long one which he read to me — 
 to Dr. Drake of Cincinnati, descriptive of his case. Its date 
 would be in December, 1840, or early in January, 1841. I think 
 that he must have informed Dr. Drake of his early love for 
 Miss Rutledge, as there was a part of the letter which he would 
 not read. ... I remember Dr. Drake's reply, which was, that 
 he would not undertake to prescribe for him without a personal 
 interview." Speed to Herndon, November 30, 1866. 
 
174 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 The first of these letters is one which he gave Speed 
 when the latter started on his journey from Illinois to 
 Kentucky. It bears no date, but was handed him January 
 1, 1842, as Speed has testified, in another letter to me, that 
 he left Springfield on that day. It is full of consolation 
 and advice how best to conduct himself when the periods 
 of gloom which he feels sure will follow come upon his 
 friend. "I know/' he says, "what the painful point with 
 you is at all times when you are unhappy ; it is an appre- 
 hension that you do not love her as you should. What 
 nonsense ! How came you to court her ? . . . Did you 
 court her for her wealth? Why, you say she had none. 
 But you say you reasoned yourself into it. What do you 
 mean by that? Was it not that you found yourself unable 
 to reason yourself out of it? Did you not think, and 
 partly form the purpose, of courting her the first time you 
 ever saw her or heard of her? What had reason to do 
 with it at that early stage ? There was nothing at that time 
 for reason to work upon. Whether she was moral, amia- 
 ble, sensible, or even of good character, you did not nor 
 could then know, except perhaps you might infer the last 
 from the company you found her in. . . . Say candidly, 
 were not those heavenly black eyes the whole basis of all 
 of your reasoning on the subject? After you and I had 
 once been at the residence, did you not go and take me 
 all the way to Lexington and back for no other purpose 
 but to get to see her again on our return on that evening 
 to take a trip for that express object ?" 
 
 The next paragraph is significant as affording us an 
 idea of how the writer perhaps viewed Miss Todd's flirta- 
 tion with Douglas: "What earthly consideration," he 
 asks, "would you take to find her scouting and despising 
 you and giving herself up to another? But of this you 
 need have no apprehension, and therefore you cannot bring 
 it home to your feelings." 
 
 February 3, he writes again, acknowledging receipt of 
 a letter dated January 25. The object of Speed's affection 
 had been ill, and her condition had greatly intensified his 
 gloomy spirits. Lincoln proffers his sympathy. "I hope 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 175 
 
 and believe," he continues, "that your present anxiety about 
 her health and her life must and will forever banish those 
 horrid doubts which I know you sometimes felt as to the 
 truth of your affection for her. If they can once and 
 forever be removed (and I almost feel a presentiment that 
 the Almighty has sent your present affliction expressly for 
 that object), surely nothing can come in their stead to fill 
 their immeasurable measure of misery. . . . 
 
 "It really appears to me that you yourself ought to 
 rejoice and not sorrow at this indubitable evidence of your 
 undying affection for her. Why, Speed, if you did not 
 love her, although you might not wish her death, you would 
 most certainly be resigned to it. Perhaps this point is no 
 longer a question with you, and my pertinacious dwelling 
 upon it is a rude intrusion upon your feelings. If so you 
 must pardon me. You know the hell I have suffered on that 
 point, and how tender I am upon it. You know I do not 
 mean wrong. I have been quite clear of hypo since you 
 left, even better than I was along in the fall." 
 
 The next letter, February 13, was written on the eve of 
 Speed's marriage. After assurances of his desire to be- 
 friend him in everything, he suggests : "But you will al- 
 ways hereafter be on ground that I have never occupied, 
 and consequently, if advice were needed, I might advise 
 wrong. I do fondly hope, however, that you will never 
 again need any comfort from abroad ... I incline to 
 think it probable that your nerves will fail you occasion- 
 ally for awhile; but once you get them firmly guarded 
 now, that trouble is over forever. If you went through 
 the ceremony calmly or even with sufficient composure 
 not to excite alarm in any present, you are safe beyond 
 question, and in two or three months, to say the most, 
 will be the happiest of men." 
 
 Meanwhile Lincoln had been duly informed of Speed's 
 marriage, and on the 25th he responds : 
 
 "Yours of the 16th, announcing that Miss Fanny and 
 you are 'no more twain, but one flesh/ reached me this 
 morning. I have no way of telling how much happiness I 
 wish you both, though I believe you both can conceive it. I 
 
I76 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 feel somewhat jealous of both of you now. You will be 
 so exclusively concerned for one another that I shall be 
 forgotten entirely ... I shall be very lonesome without 
 you. How miserably things seem to be arranged in this 
 world ! If we have no friends we have no pleasure, and 
 if we have them we are sure to lose them, and be doubly 
 pained by the loss." 
 
 In another letter, written the same day, he says, "I have 
 no doubt it is the peculiar misfortune of both you and 
 me to dream dreams of Elysium far exceeding all that 
 anything earthly can realize. Far short of your dreams as 
 you may be, no woman could do more to realize them 
 than that same black-eyed Fanny. If you could but con- 
 template her through my imagination, it would appear 
 ridiculous to you that any one should for a moment think 
 of being unhappy with her. My old father used to have 
 a saying, that, 'If you make a bad bargain hug it all the 
 tighter,' and it occurs to me that if the bargain just closed 
 can possibly be called a bad one it is certainly the most 
 pleasant one for applying that maxim to which my fancy 
 can by any effort picture. " 
 
 Speed having now safely married, Lincoln's mind began 
 to turn on things nearer home. His relations with Mary 
 Todd were still strained, but reminders of his period of 
 gloom the year before began now to bring her again into 
 view. In a letter to Speed, March 27, he says : 
 
 "It cannot be told how it thrills me with joy to hear you 
 say you are 'far happier than you ever expected to be.' 
 That much, I know, is enough. I know you too well to 
 suppose your expectations were not at least sometimes 
 extravagant, and if the reality exceeds them all, I say, 
 'Enough, dear Lord/ I am not going beyond the truth 
 when I tell you that the short space it took me to read 
 your last letter gave me more pleasure than the total sum 
 of all I have enjoyed since that fatal first of January, 1841. 
 Since then it seems to me I should have been entirely 
 happy but for the never-absent idea that there is one still 
 unhappy whom I have contributed to make so. That kills 
 my soul. I cannot but reproach myself for ever wishing 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 1 77 
 
 to be happy while she is otherwise. She accompanied a 
 large party on the railroad cars to Jacksonville last Mon- 
 day, and on her return spoke, so that I heard of it, of 
 having enjoyed the trip exceedingly. God be praised for 
 that!" 
 
 The last paragraph of this letter contains a bit of sen- 
 timent by Lincoln in acknowledgment of a violet. In the 
 margin of the letter which he gave me, Speed made this 
 note in pencil: "The violet was sent by my wife, who 
 dropped it in the letter as I was in the act of sealing it. 
 How beautiful the acknowledgment !" This is the para- 
 graph: "The sweet violet you enclosed came safely to 
 hand, but it was so dry, and mashed so flat, that it crum- 
 bled to dust at the first attempt to handle it. The juice 
 that mashed out of it stained a place in the letter, which 
 I mean to preserve and cherish for the sake of her who 
 procured it to be sent. My renewed good wishes to her." 
 
 Meanwhile the coldness that existed between Lincoln 
 and his "Mary" was gradually passing away, and with it 
 went all of Lincoln's resolution never to renew the en- 
 gagement. In a letter, July 4, he says ; "I must gain con- 
 fidence in my own ability to keep my resolves when they 
 are made. In that ability I once prided myself as the 
 only chief gem of my character; that gem I lost, how and 
 where you know too well. I have not regained it; and 
 until I do I cannot trust myself in any matter of much 
 importance. I believe now that had you understood my 
 case at the time as well as I understood yours afterwards, 
 by the aid you would have given me I should have sailed 
 through clear; but that does not now afford me sufficient 
 confidence to begin that or the like of that again ... I 
 always was superstitious; I believe God made me one of 
 the instruments of bringing Fanny and you together, which 
 union I have no doubt he had fore-ordained. Whatever 
 he designs he will do for me yet. 'Stand still and see the 
 salvation of the Lord/ is my text just now. If, as you 
 say, you have told Fanny all, I should have no objection 
 to her seeing this letter, but for its reference to our friend 
 here ; let her seeing it depend upon whether she has ever 
 
I78 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 known anything of my affairs ; and if she has not, do not 
 let her. I do not think I can come to Kentucky this sea- 
 son. I am so poor and make so little headway in the 
 world that I drop back in a month of idleness as much as 
 I gain in a year's sowing.'' 
 
 The last letter, and the one which closes this series, was 
 written October 5, 1842. In it he simply announced his 
 "duel with Shields," and then goes on to "narrate the 
 particulars of the duelling business, which still rages in this 
 city." This referred to a challenge from the belligerent 
 Shields to William Butler, and another from General 
 Whitesides to Dr. Merryman. In the latter, Lincoln acted 
 as the "friend of Merryman," but in neither case was there 
 any encounter, and both ended in smoke. The concluding 
 paragraph of this letter is the most singular in the entire 
 correspondence. I give it entire without further com- 
 ment : 
 
 "But I began this letter not for what I have been 
 writing, but to say something on that subject which you 
 know to be of such infinite solicitude to me. The immense 
 sufferings you endured from the first days of September 
 till the middle of February you never tried to conceal 
 from me, and I well understood. You have now been 
 the husband of a lovely woman nearly eight months. That 
 you are happier now than the day you married her, I well 
 know, for without, you could not be living. But I have 
 your word for it, too, and the returning elasticity of 
 spirits which is manifested in your letters. But I want 
 to ask you a close question : 'Are you in feeling as well as 
 judgment glad you are married as you are?' From any- 
 body but me this would be an impudent question not to be 
 tolerated, but I know you will pardon it in me. Please 
 answer it quickly, as I am impatient to know." 
 
 Lincoln again applied himself to the law. He reentered 
 the practice, after the long hiatus of rest, with renewed 
 vigor. He permitted the memory of his engagement with 
 Mary Todd to trouble him no longer. Their paths had 
 diverged, the pain of the separation was over, and the 
 whole thing was a history of the past. And so it might 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 1/9 
 
 ever have remained but for the intervention of a very 
 shrewd and sagacious lady — one who was capable of 
 achieving success anywhere in the ranks of diplomacy. 
 This lady was the wife of Simeon Francis, the editor of the 
 Sangamon Journal. She was a warm friend of Mary 
 Todd and a leader in society. Her husband was warmly 
 attached to Lincoln. He ran the Whig organ, and enter- 
 tained great admiration for Lincoln's brains and noble 
 qualities. The esteem was mutual, and it is no stretch 
 of the truth to say that for years Lincoln exercised undis- 
 puted control of the columns of the Journal himself. 
 Whatever he wrote or had written, went into the editorial 
 page without question. Mrs. Francis, sharing her hus- 
 band's views of Lincoln's glorious possibilities, and de- 
 siring to do Mary Todd a kindly act, determined to bring 
 about a reconciliation. She knew that Miss Todd had by 
 letter a few days after "that fatal first of January, 1841," 
 as Lincoln styled it, released him from the engagement, 
 and that since then their relations had been strained, if 
 not entirely broken off. As she viewed it, a marriage 
 between a man as promising in the political world as Lin- 
 coln, and a woman as accomplished and brilliant in society 
 as Mary Todd, would certainly add to the attractions of 
 Springfield and reflect great credit on those who brought 
 the union about. She was a great social entertainer, and 
 one day arranged a gathering at her house for the ex- 
 press purpose of bringing these two people together. Both 
 were invited and both attended ; but neither suspected 
 the other's presence. Having arranged things so in- 
 geniously and with so much discretion, it was no difficult 
 task for the hostess to bring the couple together by a 
 warm introduction and the encouraging admonition, "Be 
 friends again." Much to the surprise of both they found 
 the web woven around them. They entered into the spirit 
 of the reconciliation, and found Mrs. Francis' roof an in- 
 viting place for many succeeding meetings. A w r all reared 
 itself between them and the past, and they started again 
 tinder the auspicious omens of another engagement. The 
 tact of a woman and the diplomacy of society had accom- 
 
l80 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 plished what love had long since despaired of ever doing 
 or seeing done. 
 
 The meetings in the parlor of Mrs. Francis' house were 
 conducted with no little privacy. At first even Mrs. Ed- 
 wards knew nothing of it, but presently it came to her 
 ears. "I asked Mary," said this lady, "why she was so 
 secretive about it. She said evasively that after all that 
 had occurred, it was best to keep the courtship from all 
 eyes and ears. Men and women and the whole world were 
 uncertain and slippery, and if misfortune befell the en- 
 gagement all knowledge of it would be hidden from the 
 world." 
 
 It is unnecessary to prolong the account of this strange 
 and checkered courtship. The intervention of the affair 
 with Shields, which will be detailed in a subsequent chap- 
 ter, in no way impeded, if it did not hasten the mar- 
 riage. One morning in November, Lincoln hastening to 
 the room of his friend James H. Matheny before the 
 latter had arisen from bed, informed that he was to be 
 married that night, and requested him to attend as best 
 man. That same morning Miss Todd called on her friend 
 Julia M. Jayne, who afterward married Lyman Trumbull, 
 and made a similar request. The Edwardses were noti- 
 fied, and made such meagre preparations as were possible 
 on so short notice. License was obtained during the day, 
 the minister, Charles N. Dresser, was sent for, and in the 
 evening of November 4, 1842, "as pale and trembling as 
 if being driven to slaughter," Abraham Lincoln was at last 
 married to Mary Todd. 11 
 
 "Marriages in Springfield up to that time," says James 
 H. Matheny, 12 "had been rather commonplace affairs. Lin- 
 
 11 In the original edition Herndon printed the following note, 
 omitting mention of his authority: "While dressing for the 
 wedding in his room at Butler's house, the latter's little boy, 
 Speed, seeing Lincoln so handsomely attired, in boyish innocence 
 asked him where he was going? 'To hell, I suppose,' was Lin- 
 coln's reply." 
 
 ^Letter to Herndon, August 21, 1888. Originally used as a 
 footnote. 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN l8l 
 
 coin's was perhaps the first one ever performed with all 
 the requirements of the Episcopal ceremony. A goodly 
 number of friends had gathered, and while witnessing the 
 ceremony one of the most amusing incidents imaginable 
 occurred. No description on paper can do it justice. 
 Among those present was Thomas C. Brown, one of the 
 judges of the Supreme Court. He was in truth an 'old- 
 timer,' and had the virtue of saying just what he thought, 
 without regard to place or surroundings. He had been 
 on the bench for many years and was not less rough than 
 quaint and curious. There was, of course, a perfect hush 
 in the room as the ceremony progressed. Brown was 
 standing just behind Lincoln. Old Parson Dresser, in 
 canonical robes, with much and impressive ceremony re- 
 cited the Episcopal service. He handed Lincoln the ring, 
 who, placing it on the bride's finger, repeated the church 
 formula, 'With this ring I thee endow with all my goods 
 and chattels, lands and tenements.' Brown, who had never 
 witnessed such a proceeding, was struck with its utter 
 absurdity. 'God Almighty! Lincoln,' he ejaculated, loud 
 enough to be heard by all, 'the statute fixes all that!' 
 This unlooked-for interruption almost upset the old par- 
 son ; he had a keen sense of the ridiculous, and for the 
 moment it seemed as if he would break down; but pres- 
 ently recovering his gravity, he hastily pronounced them 
 husband and wife." 
 
 One great trial of his life was now over, and another 
 still greater one was yet to come. To me it has always 
 seemed plain that Mr. Lincoln married Mary Todd to- 
 save his honor, and in doing that he sacrificed his domes- 
 tic peace. He had searched himself subjectively, intro- 
 spectively, thoroughly; he knew he did not love her, but 
 he had promised to marry her ! The hideous thought 
 came up like a nightmare. As the "fatal first of Janu- 
 ary, 1841," neared, the clouds around him blackened the 
 heavens and his life almost went out with the storm. But 
 soon the skies cleared. Friends interposed their aid to 
 avert a calamity, and at last he stood face to face with the 
 
l82 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 great conflict between honor and domestic peace. He 
 chose the former, and with it years of self-torture, sacrifi- 
 cial pangs, and the loss forever of a happy home. 
 
 With Miss Todd a different motive, but one equally 
 as unfortunate, prompted her adherence to the union. 
 To marry Lincoln meant not a life of luxury and ease, 
 for Lincoln was not a man to accumulate wealth; but in 
 him she saw position in society, prominence in the world, 
 and the grandest social distinction. By that means her 
 ambition would be satisfied. Until that fatal New Year's 
 day in 1841 she may have loved him, but his action on 
 that occasion forfeited her affection. He had crushed her 
 proud, womanly spirit. She felt degraded in the eyes of 
 the world. Love fled at the approach of revenge. Some 
 writer — it is Junius, I believe — has said that, "Injuries 
 may be forgiven and forgotten, but insults admit of no 
 compensation ; they degrade the mind in its own self- 
 esteem and force it to recover its level by revenge. " 
 Whether Mrs. Lincoln really was moved by the spirit of 
 revenge or not she acted along the lines of human conduct. 
 She led her husband a wild and merry dance. If, in 
 time, she became soured at the world it was not without 
 provocation, and if in later years she unchained the bit- 
 terness of a disappointed and outraged nature, it followed 
 as logically as an effect does the cause. 
 
 I have told this sad story as I know and have learned 
 it. In rehearsing the varied scenes of the drama, I have 
 unearthed a few facts that seem half-buried, perhaps, but 
 they were not destined to lay buried deep or long. The 
 world will have the truth as long as the name of Lincoln 
 is remembered by mankind. 
 
 For many years I had reason to believe that Sarah 
 Rickard, who was a sister of Mrs. William Butler, had 
 been the recipient of some attentions at the hand of Mr. 
 Lincoln. The lady, long since married, is now living in 
 a Western State. I applied to her for information re- 
 cently, and after some entreaty received this answer in 
 her own handwriting: "As an old friend I will answer 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 183 
 
 the question propounded to me, though I can scarcely see 
 what good it can do history. Mr. Lincoln did make a 
 proposal of marriage to me in the summer, or perhaps 
 later, in the year 1840. He brought to my attention the 
 accounts in the Bible of the patriarch Abraham's marriage 
 to Sarah, and used that historical union as an argument 
 in his own behalf. My reason for declining his proposal 
 was the wide difference in our ages. I was then only 
 sixteen, and had given the subject of matrimony but very 
 little, if any, thought. I entertained the highest regard for 
 Mr. Lincoln. He seemed almost like an older brother, 
 being, as it were, one of my sister's family." 13 
 
 There were two things Mr. Lincoln always seemed 
 willing to forget. One was his unparliamentary escape 
 with Joseph Gillespie from the Legislature by jumping 
 through the church window, in 1839, 14 and the other was 
 the difficulty with James Shields, or, as he expressed it in 
 a letter to Speed, the "duel with Shields." Other inci- 
 dents in his career he frequently called up in conversa- 
 tion with friends, but in after years he seldom if ever 
 referred to the affair with Shields. People in Illinois did 
 gradually forget or, at least, cease to mention of it, but 
 in more remote quarters where Mr. Lincoln was less ex- 
 tensively known, the thing, much to his regret, kept ris- 
 ing to the surface. During a visit which I made to the 
 Eastern States in 1858, I was often asked for an account 
 of the so-called duel ; so often, in fact, that on my return 
 home I told Mr. Lincoln of it. "If all the good things 
 I have ever done," he said regretfully, "are remembered 
 as long and well as my scrape with Shields, it is plain I 
 shall not soon be forgotten." 
 
 James Shields, a "gallant, hot-headed bachelor from 
 Tyrone County, Ireland," and a man of inordinate vanity, 
 had been elected Auditor of State. Encouraged some- 
 what by the prominence the office gave him, he at once 
 assumed a conspicuous position in the society of Spring- 
 
 13 Original footnote. 
 
 14 This escapade actually took place December 5, 1840. 
 
184 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 field. He was extremely sensitive by nature, but exposed 
 himself to merciless ridicule by attempting to establish 
 his supremacy as a beau among the ladies. Blind to his 
 own defects, and very pronounced in support of every act 
 of the Democratic party, he made himself the target for 
 all the bitterness and ridicule of the day. It happened that 
 the financial resources of the State, owing to the collapse 
 of the great internal improvement system, were exceed- 
 ingly limited, and people were growing restless under what 
 they deemed excessive taxation. The State officers were 
 all Democrats, and during the summer they issued an or- 
 der declining to receive any more State Bank notes or bills 
 in payment of taxes. This made the tax-payer's burdens 
 greater than ever, as much of this paper remained out- 
 standing in the hands of the people. 15 The order met with 
 opposition from every quarter — the Whigs of course los- 
 ing no opportunity to make it as odious as possible. It 
 was perfectly natural, therefore, that such an ardent Whig 
 as Lincoln should join in the popular denunciation. 
 Through the columns of the Springfield Journal, of which 
 he had the undisputed use, he determined to encourage 
 the opposition by the use of his pen. No object seemed 
 to merit more ridicule and caricature than the conspicu- 
 ous figure of the Auditor of State. At this time Lincoln 
 was enjoying stolen conferences under the hospitable roof 
 of Mrs. Francis with Mary Todd and her friend Julia M. 
 Jayne. These two young ladies, to whom he confided 
 his purpose, encouraged it and offered to lend their aid. 
 Here he caught the idea of puncturing Shields. The thing 
 took shape in an article published in the Journal, purport- 
 ing to have come from a poor widow, who with her pock- 
 ets full of State Bank paper was still unable to obtain the 
 coveted receipt for her taxes. It was written by Lin- 
 coln and was headed : 16 
 
 15 The order was not merely a piece of Democratic rascality, 
 as the reader might suppose from this account. In view of the 
 circumstances, and under the law, it was the only possible course. 
 
 18 The letter printed here was the second of a series of three. 
 The first, headed "Lost Townships," August 10, 1842, was a 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 185 
 
 A Letter from the Lost Townships. 
 
 Lost Townships, August 27, 1842. 
 Dear Mr. Printer, 
 
 I see you printed that long letter I sent you a spell ago. 
 I'm quite encouraged by it, and can't keep from writing again. 
 I think the printing of my letters will be a good thing all 
 around — it will give me the benefit of being known by the 
 world, and give the world the advantage of knowing what's 
 going on in the Lost Townships, and give your paper respect- 
 ability besides. So here comes another. Yesterday afternoon 
 I hurried through cleaning up the dinner dishes and stepped 
 
 over to neighbor S to see if his wife Peggy was as well 
 
 as mout be expected, and hear what they called the baby. 
 Well, when I got there and just turned round the corner of his 
 log cabin, there he was, setting on the doorstep reading a news- 
 paper. "How are you, Jeff ?" says I. He sorter started when 
 he heard me, for he hadn't seen me before. "Why," says he, 
 "I'm mad as the devil, Aunt 'Becca !" "What about?" says I; 
 "ain't its hair the right color? None of that nonsense, Jeff; 
 there ain't an honester woman in the Lost Townships than" — 
 "Than who ?" says he ; "what the mischief are you about ?" I 
 began to see I was running the wrong trail, and so says I, 
 "Oh! nothing: I guess I was mistaken a little, that's all. But 
 what is it you're mad about?" 
 
 "Why," says he, "I've been tugging ever since harvest, 
 getting out wheat and hauling it to the river to raise State 
 Bank paper enough to pay my tax this year and a little school 
 debt I owe; and now, just as I've got it, here I open this in- 
 fernal Extra Register, expecting to find it full of 'Glorious 
 Democratic Victories' and 'High Comb'd Cocks,' when, lo 
 and behold ! I find a set of fellows, calling themselves officers 
 
 vernacular statement of the Whig position on the National Bank 
 and the tariff. One paragraph, however, referred to the specie 
 dispute in these terms : 
 
 "We heard a few days ago, by a traveller from Quincy, that 
 the Governor was going to send instructions to collectors, not to 
 take any thing but gold and silver for taxes. He said that the 
 office-holders wanted gold and silver ; and thought that the Gov- 
 ernor should so far accommodate them as to force enough out 
 of the farmers to fill their pockets. I hope it aint so ; because 
 we've got no gold. If it has run up the Mississippi, as Col. 
 Benton said it would, it certainly hasn't run up the Kickapoo." 
 
 The letter of August 27 was the only one written by Lincoln. 
 
l86 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 of the State, have forbidden the tax collectors and school com- 
 missioners to receive State paper at all ; and so here it is dead 
 on my hands. I don't now believe all the plunder I've got 
 will fetch ready cash enough to pay my taxes and that school 
 debt." 
 
 I was a good deal thunderstruck myself; for that was the 
 first I had heard of the proclamation, and my old man was 
 pretty much in the same fix with Jeff. We both stood a 
 moment staring at one another without knowing what to say. 
 At last says I, "Mr. S — , let me look at that paper." He 
 handed it to me, when I read the proclamation over. 
 
 "There now," says he, "did you ever see such a piece of 
 impudence and imposition as that ?" I saw Jeff was in a good 
 tune for saying some ill-natured things, and so I tho't I would 
 just argue a little on the contrary side, and make him rant a 
 spell if I could. "Why," says I, looking as dignified and 
 thoughtful as I could, "it seems pretty tough, to be sure, to 
 have to raise silver where there's none to be raised; but then, 
 you see, 'there will be danger of loss' if it ain't done." 
 
 "Loss ! damnation !" says he. "I defy Daniel Webster, I 
 defy King 'Solomon, I defy the world — I defy — I defy — yes, I 
 defy even you, Aunt 'Becca, to show how the people can lose 
 anything by paying their taxes in State paper." 
 
 "Well," says I, "you see what the officers of State say 
 about it, and they are a desarnin' set of men. 
 
 "But," says I, "I guess you're mistaken about what the 
 proclamation says. It don't say the people will lose anything 
 by the paper money being taken for taxes. It only says 'there 
 will be danger of loss'; and though it is tolerable plain that 
 the people can't lose by paying their taxes in something they 
 can get easier than silver, instead of having to pay silver; 
 and though it's just as plain that the State can't lose by taking 
 State Bank paper, however low it may be, while she owes the 
 bank more than the whole revenue, and can pay that paper 
 over on her debt, dollar for dollar; — still there is danger of 
 loss to the 'officers of State' ; and you know, Jeff, we can't get 
 along without officers of State." 
 
 "Damn officers of State!" says he; "that's what Whigs 
 are always hurrahing for." 
 
 "Now, don't swear so, Jeff," says I ; "you know I belong to 
 the meetin', and swearin' hurts my feelings." 
 
 "Beg pardon, Aunt 'Becca," says he; "but I do say it's 
 enough to make Dr. Goddard swear, to have tax to pay in 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 187 
 
 silver, for nothing only that Ford may get his two thousand 
 a year, and Shields his twenty-four hundred a year, and Car- 
 penter his sixteen hundred a year, and all without 'danger of 
 loss' by taking it in State paper. Yes, yes : it's plain enough 
 now what these officers of State mean by 'danger of loss/ 
 Wash, I s'pose, actually lost fifteen hundred dollars out of the 
 three thousand that two of these 'officers of State' let him 
 steal from the treasury, by being compelled to take it in State 
 paper. Wonder if we don't have a proclamation before long, 
 commanding us to make up this loss to Wash in silver." 
 
 And so he went on till his breath run out, and he had to 
 stop. I couldn't think of anything to say just then, and so 
 I begun to look over the paper again. "Ay ! here's another 
 proclamation, or something like it." 
 
 "Another?" says Jeff; "and whose egg is it, pray?" 
 
 I looked to the bottom of it, and read aloud, "Your obedient 
 servant, James Shields, Auditor." 
 
 "Aha !" says Jeff, "one of them same three fellows again. 
 Well, read it, and let's hear what of it." 
 
 I read on till I came to where it says, "The object of this 
 measure is to suspend the collection of the revenue for the 
 current year." 
 
 "Now stop, now stop!" says he; "that's a lie a'ready, and I 
 don't want to hear of it." 
 
 "Oh ! maybe not," says I. 
 
 "I say it — is — a — lie. Suspend the collection, indeed! 
 Will the collectors, that have taken their oaths to make the 
 collection, dare to suspend it? Is there anything in law re- 
 quiring them to perjure themselves at the bidding of James 
 Shields? 
 
 "Will the greedy gullet of the penitentiary be satisfied with 
 swallowing him instead of all of them, if they should venture 
 to obey him? And would he not discover some 'danger of 
 loss/ and be off about the time it came to taking their places ? 
 
 "And suppose the people attempt to suspend, by refusing to 
 pay; what then? The collectors would just jerk up their 
 horses and cows, and the like, and sell them to the highest 
 bidder for silver in hand, without valuation or redemption. 
 Why, Shields didn't believe that story himself : it was never 
 meant for the truth. If it was true, why was it not writ till 
 five days after the proclamation? Why didn't Carlin and 
 Carpenter sign it as well as Shields? Answer me that, Aunt 
 'Becca. I say it's a lie, and not a well told one at that. It 
 
l88 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 grins out like a copper dollar. Shields is a fool as well as a 
 liar. With him truth is out of the question ; and as for getting 
 a good, bright, passable lie out of him, you might as well try 
 to strike fire from a cake of tallow. I stick to it, it's all an 
 infernal Whig lie !" 
 
 "A Whig lie ! Highty tighty !" 
 
 "Yes, a Whig lie; and it's just like everything the cursed 
 British Whigs do. First they'll do some divilment, and then 
 they'll tell a lie to hide it. And they don't care how plain a 
 lie it is : they think they can cram any sort of a one down the 
 throats of the ignorant Locofocos, as they call the Democrats." 
 
 "Why, Jeff, you're crazy: you don't mean to say Shields 
 is a Whig!" 
 
 "Yes, I do." 
 
 "Why, look here! the proclamation is in your own Demo- 
 cratic paper, as you call it." 
 
 "I know it; and what of that? They only printed it to let 
 us Democrats see the deviltry the Whigs are at." 
 
 "Well, but Shields is the auditor of this Loco — I mean this 
 Democratic State." 
 
 "So he is, and Tyler appointed him to office." 
 
 "Tyler appointed him ?" 
 
 "Yes (if you must chaw it over), Tyler appointed him; 
 or, if it wasn't him, it was old Granny Harrison, and that's 
 all one. I tell you, Aunt 'Becca, there's no mistake about his 
 being a Whig. Why, his very looks shows it; everything 
 about him shows it: if I was deaf and blind, I could tell him 
 by the smell. I seed him when I was down in Springfield 
 last winter. They had a sort of a gatherin' there one night 
 among the grandees, they called a fair. All the gals about 
 town was there, and all the handsome widows and married 
 women, finickin' about trying to look like gals, tied as tight 
 in the middle, and puffed out at both ends, like bundles of 
 fodder that hadn't been stacked yet, but wanted stackin' pretty 
 bad. And then they had tables all around the house kivered 
 over with [ ] caps and pincushions and ten thousand 
 
 such little knic-knacks, tryin' to sell 'em to the fellows that 
 were bowin' and scrapin' and kungeerin' about 'em. They 
 wouldn't let no Democrats in, for fear they'd disgust the 
 ladies, or scare the little gals, or dirty the floor. I looked in 
 at the window, and there was this same fellow Shields floatin' 
 about on the air, without heft or earthly substances, just like 
 a lock of cat fur where cats had been fighting. 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 189 
 
 "He was paying his money to this one, and that one, and 
 t'other one, and sufferin' great loss because it wasn't silver 
 instead of State paper; and the sweet distress he seemed to 
 be in, — his very features, in the ecstatic agony of his soul, 
 spoke audibly and distinctly, 'Dear girls, it is distressing, but 
 I cannot marry you all. Too well I know how much you 
 suffer; but do, do remember, it is not my fault that I am so 
 handsome and so interesting'. 
 
 "As this last was expressed by a most exquisite contortion 
 of his face, he seized hold of one of their hands, and squeezed, 
 and held on to it about a quarter of an hour. 'Oh, my good 
 fellow !' says I to myself, 'if that was one of our Democratic 
 gals in the Lost Townships, the way you'd get a brass pin let 
 into you would be about up to the head.' He a Democrat! 
 Fiddlesticks ! I tell you, Aunt 'Becca, he's a Whig, and no 
 mistake: nobody but a Whig could make such a conceity 
 dunce of himself." 
 
 "Well," says I, "maybe he is ; but, if he is, I'm mistaken the 
 worst sort. Maybe so, maybe so; but, if I am, I'll suffer by 
 it ; I'll be a Democrat if it turns out that Shields is a Whig, 
 considerin' you shall be a Whig if he turns out a Democrat." 
 
 "A bargain, by jingoes!" says he; "but how will we find 
 out?" 
 
 "Why," says I, "we'll just write and ax the printer." 
 
 "Agreed again!" says he; "and by thunder! if it does turn 
 out that Shields is a Democrat, I never will" — 
 
 "Jefferson ! Jefferson !" 
 
 "What do you want, Peggy?" 
 
 "Do get through your everlasting clatter some time, and 
 bring me a gourd of water; the child's been crying for a 
 drink this livelong hour." 
 
 "Let it die, then ; it may as well die for water as to be ta::ed 
 to death to fatten officers of State." 
 
 Jeff run off to get the water, though, just like he hadn't 
 been saying anything spiteful for he's a raal good-hearted fel- 
 low, after all, once you get at the foundation of him. 
 
 I walked into the house, and, "Why, Peggy," says I, "I 
 declare we like to forgot you altogether." 
 
 "Oh, yes," says she, "when a body can't help themselves, 
 everybody soon forgets 'em ; but, thank God ! by day after 
 tomorrow I shall be well enough to milk the cows, and pen 
 the calves, and wring the contrary ones' tails for 'em, and no 
 thanks to nobody." 
 
190 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 "Good evening, Peggy," says I, and so I sloped, for I seed 
 she was mad at me for making Jeff neglect her so long. 
 
 And now, Mr. Printer, will you be sure to let us know 
 in your next paper whether this Shields is a Whig or a 
 Democrat? I don't care about it for myself, for I know well 
 enough how it is already; but I want to convince Jeff. It 
 may do some good to let him, and others like him, know who 
 and what these officers of State are. It may help to send the 
 present hypocritical set to where they belong, and to fill the 
 places they now disgrace, with men who will do more work 
 for less pay, and take a fewer airs while they are doing it. 
 It ain't sensible to think that the same men who get us into 
 trouble will change their course; and yet it's pretty plain if 
 some change for the better is not made, it's not long that either 
 Peggy or I or any of us will have a cow left to milk, or calf's 
 tail to wring. 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 Rebecca . 
 
 Within a week another epistle from Aunt Rebecca ap- 
 peared, in which among other things, she offered the gal- 
 lant Shields her hand. This one was written by Miss 
 Todd and Miss Jayne. I insert it without further com- 
 ment: 
 
 Lost Townships, September 8, 1842. 
 Dear Mr. Printer: 
 
 I was a-standin' at the spring yesterday a-washin' out but- 
 ter when I seed Jim Snooks a-ridin' up towards the house for 
 very life, when, jist as I was a-wonderin' what on airth was 
 the matter with him, he stops suddenly, and ses he, "Aunt 
 'Becca, here's somethin' for you" ; and with that he hands out 
 your letter. Well, you see, I steps out towards him, not 
 thinkin' that I had both hands full of butter; and seein' I 
 couldn't take the letter, you know, without greasin' it, I ses, 
 "Jhn, jist you open it, and read it for me." Well, Jim opens 
 it and reads it ; and would you believe it, Mr. Editor, I was so 
 completely dumfounded and turned into stone that there I 
 stood in the sun a-workin' the butter, and it a-running on 
 the ground, while he read the letter, that I never thunk what 
 I was about till the hull on't run melted on the ground and 
 was lost. Now, sir, it's not for the butter, nor the price of 
 the butter, but, the Lord have massy on us, I wouldn't have 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 191 
 
 sich another fright for a whole firkin of it. Why, when I 
 found out that it was the man what Jeff seed down to the fair 
 that had demanded the author of my letters, threatnin' to take 
 personal satisfaction of the writer, I was so skart that I tho't 
 I should quill-wheel right where I was. 
 
 You say that Mr. S is offended at being compared to 
 
 cats' fur, and is as mad as a March hare (that ain't fur), be- 
 cause I told about the squeezin'. Now I want you to tell Mr. 
 
 S that, rather than fight, I'll make any apology; and, if 
 
 he wants personal satisfaction, let him only come here, and he 
 may squeeze my hand as hard as I squeezed the butter, and, if 
 that ain't personal satisfaction, I can only say that he is the 
 fust man that was not satisfied with squeezin' my hand. If 
 this should not answer, there is one thing more that I would 
 rather do than get a lickin'. I have long expected to die a 
 widow; but, as Mr. S is rather good-looking than other- 
 wise, I must say I don't care if we compromise the matter 
 by — really, Mr. Printer, I can't help blushin' — but I — it must 
 come out — I — but widowed modesty — well, if I must, I must — 
 wouldn't he — may be sorter let the old grudge drap if I was 
 to consent to be — be — h-i-s w-i-f-e? I know he's a fightin' 
 man, and would rather fight than eat ; but isn't marryin' better 
 than fightin', though it does sometimes run in to it? And I 
 don't think, upon the whole, that I'd be sich a bad match 
 neither: I'm not over sixty, and am jist four feet three in 
 my bare feet, and not much more around the girth; and for 
 color, I wouldn't turn my back to nary a gal in the Lost 
 Townships. But, after all, maybe I'm countin' my chickins 
 before they are hatched, and dreamin' of matrimonial bliss 
 when the only alternative reserved for me may be a lickin'. 
 Jeff tells me the way these fire-eaters do is to give the chal- 
 lenged party choice of weapons, etc., which bein' the case, 
 I'll tell you in confidence that I never fights with anything 
 but broomsticks or hot water or a shovelful of coals or some 
 such thing; the former of which, being somewhat like a shilla- 
 lah, may not be very objectional to him. I will give him 
 choice, however, in one thing, and that is, whether, when we 
 fight, I shall wear breeches or he petticoats, for, I presume 
 that change is sufficient to place us on an equality. 
 
 Yours, etc., 
 
 Rececca . 
 
 P. S. — Jist say to your friend, if he concludes to marry 
 
192 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 rather than fight, I shall only inforce one condition, that is, 
 if he should ever happen to gallant any young gals home of 
 nights from our house, he must not squeeze their hands. 
 
 Not content with their epistolary efforts, the ladies 
 invoked the muse. "Rebecca" deftly transformed her- 
 self into "Cathleen," and in jingling ryhme sang the 
 praises of Shields, and congratulated him over the pros- 
 pect of an early marriage to the widow. Following are 
 the verses, rhyme, metre, and all: 
 
 Ye Jew's harps awake! The Auditor's won. 
 Rebecca the widow has gained Erin's son; 
 The pride of the north from Emerald Isle 
 Has been wooed and won by a woman's smile. 
 The combat's relinquished, old loves all forgot: 
 To the widow he's bound. Oh, bright be his lot ! 
 In the smiles of the conquest so lately achieved. 
 Joyful be his bride, "widowed modesty" relieved, 
 The footsteps of time tread lightly on flowers, 
 May the cares of this world ne'er darken his hours ! 
 But the pleasures of life are fickle and coy 
 As the smiles of a maiden sent off to destroy. 
 Happy groom ! in sadness far distant from thee 
 The fair girls dream only of past times of glee 
 Enjoyed in thy presence; whilst the soft blarnied store 
 Will be fondly remembered as relics of yore, 
 And hands that in rapture you oft would have pressed, 
 In prayer will be clasped that your lot may be blest. 
 
 The satire running through these various compositions, 
 and the publicity their appearance in the Journal gave 
 them, had a most wonderful effect on the vain and irascible 
 Auditor of State. He could no longer endure the merri- 
 ment and ridicule that met him from every side. A man 
 of cooler head might have managed it differently, but in 
 the case of a high-tempered man like Shields he felt that 
 his integrity had been assailed and that nothing but an 
 "affair of honor" would satisfy him. Through General 
 John D. Whiteside he demanded of editor Francis the 
 name of the author. The latter hunted up Lincoln, who 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 193 
 
 directed him to give his name and say nothing about the 
 ladies. The further proceedings in this grotesque drama 
 were so graphically detailed by friends of both parties 
 in the columns of the Journal at that time, that I copy 
 their letters as a better and more faithful narrative than 
 can be obtained from any other source. The letter of 
 Shields' second, General Whiteside, appearing first in the 
 Journal, finds the same place in this chapter: 
 
 Springfield, Oct. 3, 1842. 
 To the Editor of the Sangamon Journal : 
 
 Sir: To prevent misrepresentation of the recent affair 
 between Messrs. Shields and Lincoln, I think it is proper to 
 give a brief narrative of the facts of the case, as they came 
 within my knowledge; for the truth of which I hold myself 
 responsible, and request you to give the same publication. An 
 offensive article in relation to Mr. Shields appeared in the 
 Sangamon Journal of the 2d of September last; and, on de- 
 manding the author, Mr. Lincoln was given up by the editor. 
 Mr. Shields, previous to this demand, made arrangements to 
 go to Quincy on public business ; and before his return Mr. 
 Lincoln had left for Tremont to attend the court, with the 
 intention, as we learned, of remaining on the circuit several 
 weeks. Mr. Shields, on his return, requested me to accom- 
 pany him to Tremont; and, on arriving there, we found that 
 Dr. Merryman and Mr. Butler had passed us in the night, and 
 got there before us. We arrived in Tremont on the 17th ult., 
 and Mr. Shields addressed a note to Mr. Lincoln immediately, 
 informing him that he was given up as the author of some 
 articles that appeared in the Sangamon Journal (one more 
 over the signature having made its appearance at this time), 
 and requesting him to retract the offensive allusions contained 
 in said articles in relation to his private character. Mr. 
 Shields handed this note to me to deliver to Mr. Lincoln, and 
 directed me, at the same time, not to enter into any verbal 
 communication, or be the bearer of any verbal explanation, as 
 such were always liable to misapprehension. This note was 
 delivered by me to Mr. Lincoln, stating, at the same time, that 
 I would call at his convenience for an answer. Mr. Lincoln, 
 in the evening of the same day, handed me a letter addressed 
 to Mr. Shields. In this he gave or offered no explanation, 
 but stated therein that he could not submit to answer further, 
 
194 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 on the ground that Mr. Shields' note contained an assumption 
 of facts and also a menace. Mr. Shields then addressed him 
 another note, in which he disavowed all intention to menace, 
 and requested to know whether he (Mr. Lincoln) was author 
 of either of the articles which appeared in the Journal, headed 
 Tost Townships/ and signed 'Rebecca' ; and, if so, he repeated 
 his request of a retraction of the offensive matter in relation 
 to his private character; if not, his denial would be held 
 sufficient. This letter was returned to Mr. Shields unanswered, 
 with a verbal statement 'that there could be no further negotia- 
 tion between them until the first note was withdrawn.' Mr. 
 Shields thereupon sent a note designating me as a friend, to 
 which Mr. Lincoln replied by designating Dr. Merryman. 
 These three last notes passed on Monday morning, the 19th. 
 Dr. Merryman handed me Mr. Lincoln's last note when by 
 ourselves. I remarked to Dr. Merryman that the matter was 
 now submitted to us, and that I would propose that he and 
 myself should pledge our words of honor to each other to try 
 to agree upon terms of amicable arrangement, and compel our 
 principals to accept of them. To this he readily assented, and 
 we shook hands upon the pledge. It was then mutually agreed 
 that we should adjourn to Springfield, and there procrastinate 
 the matter, for the purpose of effecting the secret arrange- 
 ment between him and myself. All this I kept concealed from 
 Mr. Shields. Our horse had got a little lame in going to 
 Tremont, and Dr. Merryman invited me to take a seat in his 
 buggy. I accepted the invitation the more readily, as I 
 thought that leaving Mr. Shields in Tremont until his horse 
 would be in better condition to travel would facilitate the pri- 
 vate agreement between Dr. Merryman and myself. I 
 travelled to Springfield part of the way with him, and part 
 with Mr. Lincoln; but nothing passed between us on the 
 journey in relation to the matter in hand. We arrived in 
 Springfield on Monday night. About noon on Tuesday, to my 
 astonishment, a proposition was made to meet in Missouri, 
 within three miles of Alton, on the next Thursday ! The 
 weapons, cavalry broadswords of the largest size; the parties 
 to stand on each side of a barrier, and to be confined to a 
 limited space. As I had not been consulted at all on the sub- 
 ject, and considering the private understanding between Dr. 
 Merryman and myself, and it being known that Mr. Shields 
 was left at Tremont, such a proposition took me by surprise. 
 However, being determined not to violate the laws of the 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN I95 
 
 State, I declined agreeing upon the terms until we should 
 meet in Missouri. Immediately after, I called upon Dr. 
 Merryman and withdrew the pledge of honor between him 
 and myself in relation to a secret arrangement. I started 
 after this to meet Mr. Shields, and met him about twenty 
 miles from Springfield. It was late on Tuesday night when 
 we both reached the city and learned that Dr. Merryman had 
 left for Missouri, Mr. Lincoln having left before the proposi- 
 tion was made, as Dr. Merryman had himself informed me. 
 The time and place made it necessary to start at once. We 
 left Springfield at eleven o'clock on Tuesday night, travelled 
 all night, and arrived in Hillsborough on Wednesday morn- 
 ing, where we took in General Ewing. From there we went 
 to Alton, where we arrived on Thursday ; and, as the proposi- 
 tion required three friends on each side, I was joined by 
 General Ewing and Dr. Hope, as the friends of Mr. Shields. 
 We then crossed to Missouri, where a proposition was made 
 by General Hardin and Dr. English (who had arrived there in 
 the mean time as mutual friends) to refer the matter to, I 
 think, four friends for a settlement. This I believed Mr. 
 Shields would refuse, and declined seeing him; but Dr. Hope, 
 who conferred with him upon the subject, returned and stated 
 that Mr. Shields declined settling the matter through any 
 other than the friends he had selected to stand by him on that 
 occasion. The friends of both the parties finally agreed to 
 withdraw the papers (temporarily) to give the friends of Mr. 
 Lincoln an opportunity to explain. Whereupon the friends of 
 Mr. Lincoln, to-wit, Messrs. Merryman, Bledsoe, and Butler, 
 made a full and satisfactory explanation in relation to the 
 article which appeared in the Sangamon Journal of the 2d, the 
 only one written by him. This was all done without the 
 knowledge or consent of Mr. Shields, and he refused to ac- 
 cede to it, until Dr. Hope, General Ewing, and myself declared 
 the apology sufficient, and that we could not sustain him in 
 going further. I think it necessary to state further, that no 
 explanation or apology had been previously offered on the 
 part of Mr. Lincoln to Mr. Shields, and that none was ever 
 communicated by me to him, nor was any even offered to 
 me, unless a paper read to me by Dr. Merryman after he had 
 handed me the broadsword proposition on Tuesday. I heard 
 so little of the reading of the paper, that I do not know fully 
 what it purported to be ; and I was the less inclined to inquire, 
 as Mr. Lincoln was then gone to Missouri, and Mr. Shields 
 
I96 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 not yet arrived from Tremont. In fact, I could not entertain 
 any offer of the kind, unless upon my own responsibility ; and 
 that I was not disposed to do after what had already trans- 
 pired. 
 
 I make this statement, as I am about to be absent for some 
 time, and I think it due to all concerned to give a true version 
 of the matter before I leave. 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 John D. Whiteside. 
 
 Springfield, October 8, 1842. 
 Editors of the Journal : 
 
 Gents : — By your paper of Friday, I discover that General 
 Whiteside has published his version of the late affair between 
 Messrs. Shields and Lincoln, I now bespeak a hearing of 
 my version of the same affair, which shall be true and full as 
 to all material facts. 
 
 On Friday evening, the 16th of September, I learned that 
 Mr. Shields and General Whiteside had started in pursuit of 
 Mr. Lincoln, who was at Tremont, attending court. I knew 
 that Mr. Lincoln was wholly unpracticed both as to the 
 diplomacy and weapons commonly employed in similar affairs ; 
 and I felt it my duty, as a friend, to be with him, and, so far 
 as in my power, to prevent any advantage being taken of him 
 as to either his honor or his life. Accordingly, Mr. Butler and 
 myself started, passed Shields and Whiteside in the night, 
 and arrived at Tremont ahead of them on Saturday morning. 
 I told Mr. Lincoln what was brewing, and asked him what 
 course he proposed to himself. He stated that he was wholly 
 opposed to duelling, and would do anything to avoid it that 
 might not degrade him in the estimation of himself and 
 friends ; but, if such degradation or a fight were the only alter- 
 natives, he would fight. 
 
 In the afternoon Shields and Whiteside arrived, and very 
 soon the former sent to Mr. Lincoln, by the latter, the follow- 
 ing note or letter : — 
 
 Tremont, September 17, 1842. 
 A. Lincoln, Esq. : — I regret that my absence on public business 
 compelled me to postpone a matter of private consideration a 
 little longer than I could have desired. It will only be necessary, 
 however, to account for it by informing you that I have been to 
 Quincy on business that would not admit of delay. I will now 
 state briefly the reasons of my troubling you with this communica- 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN I97 
 
 rion, the disagreeable nature of which I regret, as I had hoped 
 to avoid any difficulty with any one in Springfield while residing 
 there, by endeavoring to conduct myself in such a way amongst 
 both my political friends and opponents, as to escape the necessity 
 of any. Whilst thus abstaining from giving provocation, I have 
 become the object of slander, vituperation, and personal abuse 
 which were I capable of submitting to, I would prove myself 
 worthy of the whole of it. 
 
 In two or three of the last numbers of the Sangamon Journal, 
 articles of the most personal nature, and calculated to degrade 
 me, have made their appearance. On inquiring, I was informed 
 by the editor of that paper, through the medium of my friend, 
 General Whiteside, that you are the author of those articles. This 
 information satisfies me that I have become, by some means or 
 other, the object of secret hostility. I will not take the trouble 
 of inquiring into the reason of all this, but I will take the liberty 
 of requiring a full, positive, and absolute retraction of all of- 
 fensive allusions used by you in these communications, in relation 
 to my private character and standing as a man, as an apology for 
 the insults conveyed in them. 
 
 This may prevent consequences which no one will regret more 
 than myself. 
 
 Your ob't serv't, 
 
 J as. Shields. 
 
 About sunset, General Whiteside called again, and secured 
 from Mr. Lincoln the following answer to Mr. Shield's note : — 
 
 Tremont, September 17, 1842. 
 
 Jas. Shields, Esq. : — Your note of today was handed me 
 by General Whiteside. In that note you say you have been in- 
 formed, through the medium of the editor of the Journal, that 
 I am the author of certain articles in that paper which you deem 
 personally abusive of you; and, without stopping to inquire whether 
 I really am the author, or to point out what is offensive in 
 them, you demand an unqualified retraction of all that is offensive, 
 and then proceed to hint at consequences. 
 
 Now, sir, there is in this so much assumption of facts, and 
 so much of menace as to consequences, that I cannot submit to 
 answer that note any further than I have, and to add, that the 
 consequences to which I suppose you allude would be matter of 
 as great regret to me as it possibly could to you. 
 Respectfully, 
 
 A. Lincoln. 
 
 In about an hour, General Whiteside called again with 
 another note from Mr. Shields; but after conferring with 
 Mr. Butler for a long time, say two or three hours, returned 
 
I98 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 without presenting the note to Mr. Lincoln. This was in con- 
 sequence of an assurance from Mr. Butler that Mr. Lincoln 
 could not receive any communication from Mr. Shields, un- 
 less it were a withdrawal of his first note, or a challenge. 
 Mr. Butler further stated to General Whiteside, that, on the 
 withdrawal of the first note, and a proper and gentlemanly 
 request for an explanation, he had no doubt one would be 
 given. General Whiteside admitted that that was the course 
 Mr. Shields ought to pursue, but deplored that his furious 
 and intractable temper prevented his having any influence 
 with him to that end. General Whiteside then requested us 
 to wait with him until Monday morning, that he might en- 
 deavor to bring Mr. Shields to reason. 
 
 On Monday morning he called and presented Mr. Lincoln 
 the same note as Mr. Butler says he had brought on Saturday 
 evening. It was as follows: — 
 
 Tremont, September 17, 1842. 
 
 A. Lincoln, Esq.: — In your reply to my note of this date, 
 you intimate that I assume facts and menace consequences, 
 and that you cannot submit to answer it further. As now, sir, 
 you desire it, I will be a little more particular. The editor of 
 the Sangamon Journal gave me to understand that you are the 
 author of an article which appeared, I think, in that paper of 
 the 2d September inst., headed "The Lost Townships" and signed 
 Rebecca or 'Becca. I would therefore take the liberty of asking 
 whether you are the author of said article, or any other of the 
 same signature which has appeared in any of the late numbers 
 of that paper. If so, I repeat my request of an absolute retraction 
 of all offensive allusions contained therein in relation to my 
 private character and standing. 
 
 If you are not the author of any of the articles, your denial 
 will be sufficient. I will say further, it is not my intention to 
 menace, but to do myself justice. 
 
 Your ob't serv't, 
 
 Jas. Shields. 
 
 This Mr. Lincoln perused, and returned to General White- 
 side, telling him verbally, that he did not think it consistent 
 with his honor to negotiate for peace with Mr. Shields, unless 
 Mr. Shields would withdraw his former offensive letter. 
 
 In a very short time General Whiteside called with a note 
 from Mr. Shields, designating General Whiteside as his 
 friend, to which Mr. Lincoln instantly replied designating me 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN I99 
 
 as his. On meeting General Whiteside, he proposed that we 
 should pledge our honor to each other that we would endeavor 
 to settle the matter amicably ; to which I agreed, and stated to 
 him the only conditions on which it could be settled; viz., the 
 withdrawal of Mr. Shield's first note, which he appeared to 
 think reasonable, and regretted that the note had been written, 
 saying however, that he had endeavored to prevail on Mr. 
 Shields to write a milder one, but had not succeeded. He 
 added, too, that I must promise not to mention it, as he would 
 not dare to let Mr. Shields know that he was negotiating 
 peace ; for, said he, "He would challenge me next, and as soon 
 cut my throat as not." Not willing that he should suppose 
 my principal less dangerous than his own, I promised not to 
 mention our pacific intentions to Mr. Lincoln or any other 
 person ; and we started for Springfield forthwith. 
 
 We all, except Mr. Shields, arrived in Springfield late at 
 night on Monday. We discovered that the affair had, some- 
 how, got great publicity in Springfield, and that an arrest was 
 probable. To prevent this, it was agreed by Mr. Lincoln and 
 myself that he should leave early on Tuesday morning. Ac- 
 cordingly, he prepared the following instructions for my 
 guide, on a suggestion from Mr. Butler that he had reason to 
 believe that an attempt would be made by the opposite party 
 to have the matter accommodated: 
 
 "In case Whiteside shall signify a wish to adjust this affair 
 without further difficulty, let him know that, if the present 
 papers be withdrawn, and a note from Mr. Shields asking to 
 know if I am the author of the articles of which he complains, 
 and asking that I shall make him gentlemanly satisfaction if 
 I am the author, and this without menace or dictation as to 
 what that satisfaction shall be, a pledge is made that the fol- 
 lowing answer shall be given: 
 
 " T did write the "Lost Township" letter which appeared in 
 the Journal of the 2d inst, but had no participation in any 
 form in any other article alluding to you. I wrote that wholly 
 for political effect. I had no intention of injuring your per- 
 sonal or private character, or standing as a man or a gentle- 
 man; and I did not th^n think, and do not now think, that that 
 article could produce, or has produced, that effect against you ; 
 and had I anticipated such an effect, I would have forborne to 
 write it. And I will add, that your conduct towards me, so 
 far as I knew, had always been gentlemanly, and that I had 
 no personal pique against you, and no cause for any.' 
 
200 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 "If this should be done, I leave it with you to manage what 
 shall and what shall not be published. 
 
 "If nothing like this is done, the preliminaries of the fight 
 are to be: 
 
 "1st. Weapons : — Cavalry broadswords of the largest size, 
 precisely equal in all respects, and such as now used by the 
 cavalry company at Jacksonville. 
 
 "2d. Position: — A plank ten feet long, and from nine to 
 twelve inches broad, to be firmly fixed on edge on the ground 
 as the line between us, which neither is to pass his foot over 
 upon forfeit of his life. Next, a line drawn on the ground on 
 either side of said plank and parallel with it, each at the dis- 
 tance of the whole length of the sword and three feet addi- 
 tional from the plank; and the passing of his own such line 
 by either party during the fight shall be deemed a surrender 
 of the contest. 
 
 "3d. Time: — On Thursday evening at five o'clock, if you 
 can get it so ; but in no case to be at a greater distance of 
 time than Friday evening at 5 o'clock. 
 
 "4th. Place : — Within three miles of Alton, on the opposite 
 side of the river, the particular spot to be agreed on by you. 
 
 "Any preliminary details coming within the above rules, you 
 are at liberty to make at your discretion ; but you are in no 
 case to swerve from these rules, or to pass beyond their limits." 
 
 In the course of the forenoon I met General Whiteside, and 
 he again intimated a wish to adjust the matter amicably. I 
 then read to him Mr. Lincoln instructions to an adjustment, 
 and the terms of the hostile meeting, if there must be one, both 
 at the same time. 
 
 He replied that it was useless to talk of an adjustment, if 
 it could only be effected by the withdrawal of Mr. Shields' 
 paper, for such withdrawal Mr. Shields would never consent 
 to ; adding, that he would as soon think of asking Mr. Shields 
 to "butt his brains out against a brick wall as to withdraw 
 that paper." He proceeded: "I see but one course — that is a 
 desperate remedy: 'tis to tell them, if they will not make the 
 matter up, they must fight us." I replied, that, if he chose to 
 fight Mr. Shields to compel him to do right, he might do so; 
 but as for Mr. Lincoln, he was on the defensive, and, I believe, 
 in the right, and I should do nothing to compel him to do 
 wrong. Such withdrawal having been made indispensable by 
 Mr. Lincoln, I cut the matter short as to an adjustment, and 
 I proposed to General Whiteside to accept the terms of the 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 201 
 
 fight, which he refused to do until Mr. Shields' arrival in 
 town, but agreed, verbally, that Mr. Lincoln's friends should 
 procure the broadswords, and take them to the ground. In 
 the afternoon he came to me, saying that some persons were 
 swearing out affidavits to have us arrested, and that he in- 
 tended to meet Mr. Shields immediately, and proceed to the 
 place designated, lamenting, however, that I would not delay 
 the time, that he might procure the interference of Governor 
 Ford and General Ewing to mollify Mr. Shields. I told him 
 that an accommodation, except upon the terms I mentioned, 
 was out of question ; that to delay the meeting was to facilitate 
 our arrest; and, as I was determined not to be arrested, I 
 should leave the town in fifteen minutes. I then pressed his 
 acceptance of the preliminaries, which he disclaimed upon the 
 ground that it would interfere with his oath of office as Fund 
 Commissioner. I then, with two other friends, went to Jack- 
 sonville, where we joined Mr. Lincoln about 11 o'clock on 
 Tuesday night. Wednesday morning we procured the broad- 
 swords, and proceeded to Alton, where we arrived about 11 
 o'clock A. M., on Thursday. The other party were in town 
 before us. We crossed the river, and they soon followed. 
 Shortly after, General Hardin and Dr. English presented to 
 General Whiteside and myself the following note : 
 
 Alton, September 22, 1842. 
 
 Messrs. Whiteside and Merryman : — As the mutual personal 
 friends of Messrs. Shields and Lincoln, but without authority 
 from either, we earnestly desire to see a reconciliation of the 
 misunderstanding which exists between them. Such difficulties 
 should always be arranged amicably, if it is possible to do so 
 with honor to both parties. 
 
 Believing, ourselves, that such an arrangement can possibly 
 be effected, we respectfully but earnestly submit the following 
 proposition for your consideration : 
 
 Let the whole difficulty be submitted to four or more gentle- 
 men, to be selected by ourselves, who shall consider the affair, 
 and report thereupon for your consideration. 
 
 John J. Hardin, 
 R. W. English. 
 
 To this proposition General Whiteside agreed: I declined 
 doing so without consulting Mr. Lincoln. Mr. Lincoln re- 
 marked that, as they had accepted the proposition, he would 
 do so, but directed that his friends should make no terms 
 
202 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 except those first proposed. Whether the adjustment was 
 finally made upon these very terms and no other, let the fol- 
 lowing documents attest: 
 
 Missouri, September 22, 1842. 
 Gentlemen : — All papers in relation to the matter in con- 
 troversy between Mr. Shields and Mr. Lincoln having been with- 
 drawn by the friends of the parties concerned, the friends of Mr. 
 Shields ask the friends of Mr. Lincoln to explain all offensive 
 matter in the articles which appeared in the Sangamon Journal, 
 of the 2d, 9th, and 16th of September, under the signature of 
 "Rebecca," and headed "Lost Townships." 
 
 It is due General Hardin and Mr. English to state that their 
 interference was of the most courteous and gentlemanly charac- 
 ter. 
 
 John D. Whiteside. 
 Wm. Lee D. Ewing. 
 T. M. Hope. 
 
 Missouri, September 22, 1842. 
 Gentlemen : — All papers in relation to the matter in con- 
 troversy between Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Shields having been 
 withdrawn by the friends of the parties concerned, we, the un- 
 dersigned, friends of Mr. Lincoln, in accordance with your request 
 that explanation of Mr. Lincoln's publication in relation to Mr. 
 Shields in the Sangamon Journal of the 2d, 9th, and 16th of 
 September be made, take pleasure in saying, that, although Mr. 
 Lincoln was the writer of the article signed "Rebecca" in the 
 Journal of the 2d, and that only, yet he had no intention of in- 
 juring the personal or private character or standing of Mr. 
 Shields as a gentleman or a man, and that Mr. Lincoln did not 
 think, nor does he now think, that said article could produce such 
 an effect; and, had Mr. Lincoln anticipated such an effect, he 
 would have forborne to write it. We will state further, that 
 said article was written solely for political effect, and not to 
 gratify any personal pique against Mr. Shields, for he had none 
 and knew of no cause for any. It is due to General Hardin and 
 Mr. English to say that their interference was of the most court- 
 eous and gentlemanly character. 
 
 E. H. Merryman. 
 
 A. T. Bledsoe. 
 
 Wm. Buttler. 
 
 Let it be observed now, that Mr. Shields' friends, after 
 agreeing to the arbitrament of four disinterested gentlemen, 
 declined the contract, saying that Mr. Shields wished his own 
 friends to act for him. They then proposed that we should 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 203 
 
 explain without any withdrawal of papers. This was promptly 
 and firmly refused, and General Whiteside himself pronounced 
 the papers withdrawn. They then produced a note requesting 
 us to "disavow" all offensive intentions in the publications, 
 etc., etc. This we declined answering, and only responded to 
 the above request for an explanation. 
 
 These are the material facts in relation to the matter, and 
 I think present the case in a very different light from the 
 garbled and curtailed statement of General Whiteside. Why 
 he made that statement I know not, unless he wished to de- 
 tract from the honor of Mr. Lincoln. This was ungenerous, 
 more particularly as he on the ground requested us not to 
 make in our explanation any quotations from the "Rebecca 
 papers ;" also, not to make public the terms of reconciliation, 
 and to unite with them in defending the honorable character 
 of the adjustment. 
 
 General Whiteside, in his publication, says: "The friends 
 of both parties agreed to withdraw the papers (temporarily) 
 to give the friends of Mr. Lincoln an opportunity to explain." 
 This I deny. I say the papers were withdrawn to enable Mr. 
 Shields's friends to ask an explanation; and I appeal to the 
 documents for proof of my position. 
 
 By looking over these documents, it will be seen that Mr. 
 Shields had not before asked for an explanation, but had all 
 the time been dictatorially insisting on a retraction. 
 
 General Whiteside, in his communication, brings to light 
 much of Mr. Shields's manifestations of bravery behind the 
 scenes. I can do nothing of the kind for Mr. Lincoln. He 
 took his stand when I first met him at Tremont, and main- 
 tained it calmly to the last, without difficulty or difference 
 between himself and his friends. 
 
 I cannot close this article, lengthy as it is, without testifying 
 to the honorable and gentlemanly conduct of General Ewing 
 and Dr. Hope, nor indeed can I say that I saw anything ob- 
 jectionable in the course of General Whiteside up to the time 
 of his communication. This is so replete with prevarication 
 and misrepresentation, that I cannot accord to the General 
 that candor which I once supposed him to possess. He com- 
 plains that I did not procrastinate time according to agree- 
 ment. He forgets that by his own act he cut me off from that 
 chance in inducing me, by promise, not to communicate our 
 secret contract to Mr. Lincoln. Moreover, I could see no con- 
 sistency in wishing for an extension of time at that stage of 
 
204 LIFE 0F LINCOLN 
 
 the affair, when in the outset they were in so precipitate a 
 hurry that they could not wait three days for Mr. Lincoln to 
 return from Tremont, but must hasten there, apparently with 
 the intention of bringing the matter to a speedy issue. He 
 complains, too, that, after inviting him to take a seat in the 
 buggy I never broached the subject to him on our route here. 
 But was I, the defendant in the case, with a challenge hang- 
 ing over me, to make advances, and beg a reconciliation? 
 
 Absurd ! Moreover, the valorous General forgets that he 
 beguiled the tedium of the journey by recounting to me his 
 exploits in many a well-fought battle, — dangers by "flood and 
 field," in which I don't believe he ever participated, — doubtless 
 with a view to produce a salutary effect on my nerves, and 
 impress me with a proper notion of his fire-eating propensities. 
 
 One more main point of his argument and I have done. 
 The General seems to be troubled with a convenient shortness 
 of memory on some occasions. He does not remember that 
 any explanations were offered at any time, unless it were a 
 paper read when the "broadsword proposition" was tendered, 
 when his mind was so confused by the anticipated clatter of 
 broadswords, or something else, that he did "not know fully 
 what it purported to be." The truth is, that, by unwisely 
 refraining from mentioning it to his principal, he placed him- 
 self in a dilemma which he is now endeavoring to shuffle out 
 of. By his inefficiency and want of knowledge of those laws 
 which govern gentlemen in matters of this kind, he has done 
 great injustice to his principal, a gentleman who, I believe, 
 is ready at all times to vindicate his honor manfully, but who 
 has been unfortunate in the selection of his friends, and this 
 fault he is now trying to wipe out by doing an act of still 
 greater injustice to Mr. Lincoln. 
 
 E. H. Merryman. 
 
 Dr. Merryman's elaborate and graphic account of the 
 meeting at the duelling ground and all the preliminary 
 proceedings is as full and complete a history of this serio- 
 comic affair as any historian could give. Mr. Lincoln, 
 as mentioned in the outset of this chapter, in the law of- 
 fice and elsewhere, as a rule, refrained from discussing 
 it. I only remember of hearing him say this, in reference 
 to the duel : "I did not intend to hurt Shields unless I 
 did so clearly in self-defense. If it had been necessary I 
 could have split him from the crown of his head to the end 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 205 
 
 of his backbone"; and when one takes into consideration 
 the conditions of weapons and position required in his in- 
 structions to Dr. Merryman the boast does not seem im- 
 possible. 
 
 The following letter from Lincoln to his friend Speed 
 furnishes the final outcome of the "duelling business." 
 
 Springfield, October 4, 1842. 
 Dear Speed : — 
 
 You have heard of my duel with Shields, and I have now 
 to inform you that the duelling business still rages in this 
 city. Day before yesterday Shields challenged Butler, who 
 accepted, proposed righting next morning at sunrise in Bob 
 Allen's meadow, one hundred yards distance, with rifles. 
 To this Whiteside, Shields's second, said 'no' because of the 
 law. Thus ended duel No. 2. Yesterday Whiteside chose to 
 consider himself insulted by Dr. Merryman, so sent him a 
 kind of quasi-challenge inviting him to meet him at the Plant- 
 er's House in St. Louis, on the next Friday, to settle their 
 difficulty. Merryman made me his friend, and sent White- 
 side a note, inquiring to know if he meant his note as a chal- 
 lenge, and if so, that he would, according to the law in such 
 case made and provided, prescribe the terms of the meeting. 
 Whiteside returned for answer that if Merryman would meet 
 him at the Planter's House as desired, he would challenge 
 him. Merryman replied in a note, that he denied Whiteside's 
 right to dictate time and place, but that he (Merryman) would 
 wave the question of time, and meet him at Louisiana, Mo. 
 Upon my presenting his note to Whiteside, and stating verbally 
 its contents, he declined receiving it, saying he had business 
 in St. Louis, and it was as near as Louisiana. Merryman 
 then directed me to notify Whiteside that he should publish 
 the correspondence between them, with such comments as he 
 saw fit. This I did. Thus it stood at bed-time last night. 
 This morning Whiteside, by his friend Shields, is praying 
 for a new trial, on the ground that he was mistaken in Merry- 
 man's proposition to meet him at Louisiana, Mo., thinking it 
 was the State of Louisiana. This Merryman hoots at, and is 
 preparing his publication ; while the town is in a ferment, and 
 a street-fight somewhat anticipated. 
 
 Yours forever, 
 
 Lincoln. 
 
206 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 The marriage of Lincoln in no way diminished his love 
 for politics; in fact, as we shall see later along, it served 
 to stimulate his zeal in that direction. He embraced every 
 opportunity that offered for a speech in public. Early in 
 1842 he entered into the Washington movement organized 
 to suppress the evils of intemperance. At the request of 
 the society he delivered an admirable address, on Wash- 
 ington's birthday, in the Presbyterian Church, which, in 
 keeping with former efforts, has been so often published 
 that I need not quote it in full. 17 I was then an ardent tem- 
 perance reformer myself, and remember well how one 
 paragraph of Lincoln's speech offended the church mem- 
 bers who were present. Speaking of certain Christians 
 who objected to the association of drunkards, even with 
 the chance of reforming them, he said : "If they (the 
 Christians) believe, as they profess, that Omnipotence 
 condescended to take on himself the form of sinful man, 
 and as such die an ignominious death, surely they will 
 not refuse submission to the infinitely lesser condescen- 
 sion, for the temporal and perhaps eternal salvation of 
 a large, erring, and unfortunate class of their fellow- 
 creatures. Nor is the condescension very great. In my 
 judgment such of us as have never fallen victims have 
 been spared more from the absence of appetite than from 
 any mental or moral superiority over those who have. 
 Indeed, I believe, if we take habitual drunkards as a class, 
 their heads and their hearts will bear an advantageous 
 comparison with those of any other class." The avowal 
 of these sentiments proved to be an unfortunate thing 
 for Lincoln. The professing Christians regarded the sus- 
 picion suggested in the first sentence as a reflection on the 
 sincerity of their belief, and the last one had no better 
 effect in reconciling them to his views. I was at the door 
 of the church as the people passed out, and heard them 
 
 17 Lincoln's address was a plea to all to support the temperance 
 movement by joining the Washington Society, regardless of 
 whether or not they had been users of liquor. The strength of 
 the movement is evident from an announcement in the Sangamo 
 Journal, three months after Lincoln's speech, that the Springfield 
 Society then numbered 700 members. 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 207 
 
 discussing the speech. Many of them were open in the 
 expression of their displeasure. "It's a shame," I heard 
 one man say, "that he should be permitted to abuse us so 
 in the house of the Lord." The truth was the society was 
 composed mainly of the roughs and drunkards of the 
 town, who had evinced a desire to reform. Many of them 
 were too fresh from the gutter to be taken at once into 
 the society of such people as worshipped at the church 
 where the speech was delivered. Neither was there that 
 concert of effort so universal today between the churches 
 and temperance societies to rescue the fallen. The whole 
 thing, I repeat, was damaging to Lincoln, and gave rise 
 to the opposition on the part of the churches which con- 
 fronted him several years afterwards when he became a 
 candidate against the noted Peter Cartwright for Con- 
 gress. The charge, therefore, that in matters of religion 
 he was a skeptic was not without its supporters, especially 
 where his opponent was himself a preacher. But, nothing 
 daunted, Lincoln kept on and labored zealously in the in- 
 terest of the temperance movement. He spoke often 
 again in Springfield, and also in other places over the 
 country, displaying the same courage and adherence to 
 principle that characterized his every undertaking. 
 
 Meanwhile, he had one eye open for politics as he moved 
 along. He was growing more self-reliant in the practice 
 of law every day, and felt amply able to take charge of 
 and maintain himself in any case that happened to come 
 into his hands. His propensity for the narration of an apt 
 story was of immeasurable aid to him before a jury, and in 
 cases where the law seemed to lean towards the other side 
 won him many a case. In 1842, Martin Van Buren, who 
 had just left the Presidential chair, made a journey through 
 the West. He was accompanied by his former Secretary 
 of the Navy, Mr. Paulding, and in June they reached the 
 village of Rochester, distant from Springfield six miles. 18 
 
 18 The Illinois State Register for June 24, 1842, thus describes 
 Van Buren's arrival in Springfield: "The Ex-President accom- 
 panied by Judge Whitcomb of Indiana, arrived in Springfield on 
 last Friday morning, [June 17] ; and our citizens, laying aside all 
 
208 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 It was evening when they arrived, and on account of the 
 muddy roads they decided to go no farther, but to rest 
 there for the night. Word was sent into Springfield, and 
 of course the leading Democrats of the capital hurried out 
 to meet the distinguished visitor. Knowing the accom- 
 modations at Rochester were not intended for or suited 
 to the entertainment of an ex-President, they took with 
 them refreshments in quantity and variety, to make up 
 for all deficiencies. Among others, they prevailed on 
 Lincoln, although an ardent and pronounced Whig, to ac- 
 company them. They introduced him to the venerable 
 statesman of Kinderhook as a representative lawyer, and 
 a man whose wit was as ready as his store of anecdotes 
 was exhaustless. How he succeeded in entertaining the 
 visitor and the company, those who were present have 
 often since testified. Van Buren himself entertained the 
 crowd with reminiscences of politics in New York, going 
 back to the days of Hamilton and Burr, and many of the 
 crowd in turn interested him with graphic descriptions of 
 early life on the western frontier. But they all yielded 
 at last to the piquancy and force of Lincoln's queer stories. 
 "Of these," relates Joseph Gillespie, one of the company, 
 "there was a constant supply, one following another in 
 rapid succession, each more irresistible than its predecessor. 
 The fun continued until after midnight, and until the dis- 
 tinguished traveller insisted that his sides were sore from 
 laughing." The yarns which Lincoln gravely spun out, 
 Van Buren assured the crowd, he never would forget. 
 
 party considerations, cordially united in greeting him with a hearty 
 welcome. Never have we seen a public man so warmly received 
 by his fellow-citizens. — But two days' notice of his expected ar- 
 rival was given, and that notice had but a limited circulation, yet 
 several thousand persons awaited his arrival near the city. — He 
 had reached Rochester (eight miles from Springfield) on the 
 evening previous, where many of our people from the surrounding 
 country had the pleasure of taking him by the hand. He remained 
 over night at that place, at the house of Mr. Doty." 
 
 Van Buren remained in Springfield three days. "He went 
 through the various rooms of the State House on Saturday, and 
 on Sunday visited the Methodist Church in the morning and the 
 Second Presbyterian in the afternoon." 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 209 
 
 After April 14, 1841, when Lincoln retired from the 
 partnership with Stuart, who had gone to Congress, he 
 had been associated with Stephen T. Logan, a man who 
 had, as he deserved, the reputation of being the best nisi 
 priiis lawyer in the State. Judge Logan was a very orderly 
 but somewhat technical lawyer. He had some fondness 
 for politics, and made one race for Congress, but he 
 lacked the elements of a successful politician. He was 
 defeated, and returned to the law. He was assiduous 
 in study and tireless in search of legal principles. He 
 was industrious and very thrifty, delighted to make and 
 save money, and died a rich man. Lincoln had none of 
 Logan's qualities. He was anything but studious, and had 
 no money sense. He was five years younger, and yet his 
 mind and makeup so impressed Logan that he was invited 
 into the partnership with him. Logan's example had a 
 good effect on Lincoln, and it stimulated him to unusual 
 endeavors. For the first time he realized the effectiveness 
 of order and method in work, but his old habits eventually 
 overcame him. He permitted his partner to do all the 
 studying in the preparation of cases, while he himself 
 trusted to his general knowledge of the law and the in- 
 spiration of the surroundings to overcome the judge or 
 the jury. Logan was scrupulously exact, and used extra- 
 ordinary care in the preparation of papers. His w T ords 
 were well chosen, and his style of composition was stately 
 and formal. This extended even to his letters. This 
 Lincoln lacked in every particular. I have before me a 
 letter written by Lincoln at this time to the proprietors 
 of a wholesale store in Louisville, for whom suit had been 
 brought, in which, after notifying the latter of the sale of 
 certain real estate in satisfaction of their judgment, he 
 adds: "As to the real estate we cannot attend to it. We 
 are not real estate agents, we are lawyers. We recommend 
 that you give the charge of it to Mr. Isaac S. Britton, a 
 trustworthy man, and one whom the Lord made on pur- 
 pose for such business. " He gravely signs the firm name, 
 Logan and Lincoln, to this unlaw T yerlike letter and sends 
 it on its way. Logan never would have written such a 
 
2IO LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 letter. He had too much gravity and austere dignity to 
 permit any such looseness of expression in letters to his 
 clients or to anyone else. 
 
 [Logan's estimate of Lincoln as a lawyer has recently 
 come to light. "Lincoln's knowledge of law was very 
 small when I took him in," he wrote. "I don't think he 
 studied very much. I think he learned his law more in the 
 study of cases. He would work hard and learn all there 
 was in a case he had in hand. He got to be a pretty good 
 lawyer though his general knowledge of law was never 
 very formidable. But he would study out his case and 
 make about as much of it as anybody. After a while he 
 began to pick up a considerable ambition in the law. He 
 didn't have confidence enough at first. . . . 
 
 "Both he and Baker were exceedingly useful to me in 
 getting the good will of juries. Lincoln seemed to put 
 himself at once on an equality with everybody — never of 
 course while they were outrageous, never while they were 
 drunk or noisy, or anything of the kind. . . . 
 
 "Lincoln was growing all the time, from the time I first 
 knew him. He was not much of a reader. Lincoln was 
 never what might be called a very industrious reader. But 
 he would get a case and try to know all there was con- 
 nected with it ; and in that way before he left this country 
 he got to be quite a formidable lawyer. 
 
 "But he had this one peculiarity: he couldn't fight in a 
 bad case. 
 
 "So far as his reading knowledge of law went he had 
 a quite unusual grasp of the principles involved. When 
 he was with me, I have seen him get a case and seem to be 
 bewildered at first, but he would go at it and after a while 
 he would master it. He was very tenacious in his grasp 
 of a thing that he once got hold of ." 19 ] 
 
 In 1843, Logan and Lincoln both had their eyes set 
 on the race for Congress. Logan's claim to the honor lay 
 in his age and the services he had rendered the Whig 
 party, while Lincoln, overflowing with ambition, lay great 
 
 19 Bulletin, Lincoln Centennial Association (now Abraham Lin- 
 coln Association), Sept. 1, 1928. 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 211 
 
 stress on his legislative achievements, and demanded it 
 because he had been defeated in the nominating conven- 
 tions by both Hardin and Baker in the order named. 
 That two such aspiring politicians, each striving to obtain 
 the same prize, should not dwell harmoniously together 
 in the same office is not strange. Indeed, we may reason- 
 ably credit the story that they considered themselves rivals, 
 and that numerous acrimonious passages took place be- 
 tween them. I was not surprised, therefore, one morning, 
 to see Mr. Lincoln come rushing up into my quarters and 
 with more or less agitation tell me he had determined to 
 sever the partnership with Logan. I confess I was sur- 
 prised when he invited me to become his partner. I was 
 young in the practice and was painfully aware of my 
 want of ability and experience; but when he remarked in 
 his earnest, honest way, "Billy, I can trust you, if you 
 can trust me," I felt relieved, and accepted the generous 
 proposal. It has always been a matter of pride with me 
 that during our long partnership, continuing on until it 
 was dissolved by the bullet of the assassin Booth, we 
 never had any personal controversy or disagreement. I 
 never stood in his way for political honors or office, and 
 I believe we understood each other perfectly. In after 
 years, when he became more prominent, and our practice 
 grew to respectable proportions, other ambitious practition- 
 ers undertook to supplant me in the partnership. One of 
 the latter, more zealous than wise, charged that I was in a 
 certain way weakening the influence of the firm. I am 
 flattered to know that Lincoln turned on this last named 
 individual with the retort, "I know my own business, I 
 reckon. I know Billy Herndon better than anybody, and 
 even if what you say of him is true I intend to stick by 
 him." 
 
 [In the light of what is now known it is almost certain 
 that the rumors of a rift between Logan and Lincoln — 
 which Herndon credited — were without foundation. 
 Surely the contest for the Congressional nomination in 
 1843 could have caused no trouble, for the Logan-Lincoln 
 partnership was not terminated until late in 1844. The 
 
212 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 exact date is uncertain. Herndon was not admitted to 
 the bar until December 9, 1844, but nine years later Lin- 
 coln himself referred to the partnership as having com- 
 menced in "the autumn of 1844." 
 
 In view of these facts there seems to be no reason for 
 doubting Logan's statement regarding the termination of 
 his partnership with Lincoln. "Our law partnership con- 
 tinued perhaps three years," he said. "I then told him 
 that I wished to take in my son David with me who had 
 meanwhile grown up, and Lincoln was perhaps by that 
 time quite willing to begin on his own account. So we 
 talked the matter over and dissolved] the partnership 
 amicably and in friendship." 20 ] 
 
 Lincoln's effort to obtain the Congressional nomination 
 in 1843 brought out several unique and amusing incidents. 
 He and Edward D. Baker were the two aspirants from 
 Sangamon County, but Baker's long residence, extensive 
 acquaintance, and general popularity were obstacles Lin- 
 coln could not overcome ; accordingly, at the last moment, 
 Lincoln reluctantly withdrew from the field. In a letter to 
 his friend Speed, dated March 24, 1843, he describes the 
 situation as follows : "We had a meeting of the Whigs of 
 the county here on last Monday, to appoint delegates to 
 a district convention ; and Baker beat me, and got the dele- 
 gation instructed to go for him. The meeting, in spite of 
 my attempt to decline it, appointed me one of the dele- 
 gates; so that in getting Baker the nomination I shall be 
 fixed a good deal like a fellow who is made groomsman 
 to a man that has cut him out, and is marrying his own 
 dear gal." Only a few days before this he had written 
 a friend, Richard S. Thomas of Virginia, Illinois, anent 
 the Congressional matter, "Now if you should hear any one 
 say that Lincoln don't want to go to Congress, I wish you, 
 as a personal friend of mine, would tell him you have 
 reason to believe he is mistaken. The truth is I would 
 like to go very much. Still, circumstances may happen 
 which may prevent my being a candidate. If there are 
 any who be my friends in such an enterprise, what I now 
 
 20 Bulletin, Lincoln Centennial Association, Sept. 1, 1928. 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 213 
 
 want is that they shall not throw me away just yet." To 
 another friend, Martin M. Morris, in the adjoining county 
 of Menard a few days after the meeting of the Whigs in 
 Sangamon, he explains how Baker defeated him. 
 
 The entire absence of any feeling of bitterness, or what 
 the politicians call revenge, is the most striking feature of 
 the letter. "It is truly gratifying," he says, "to me to 
 learn that while the people of Sangamon have cast me off, 
 my old friends of Menard, who have known me longest 
 and best, stick to me. It would astonish if not amuse the 
 older citizens to learn that I (a strange, friendless, un- 
 educated, penniless boy, working on a flat-boat at ten 
 dollars per month) have been put down here as the candi- 
 date of pride, wealth, and aristocratic family distinction. 
 Yet so, chiefly, it was. There was, too, the strangest com- 
 bination of church influence against me. Baker is a Camp- 
 bellite, and therefore as I suppose, with few exceptions, 
 got all that church. My wife has some relations in the 
 Presbyterian churches and some with the Episcopalian 
 churches, and therefore, wherever it would tell, I was set 
 down as either the one or the other, while it was every- 
 where contended that no Christian ought to go for me, 
 because I belonged to no church, was suspected of being 
 a deist, and had talked about fighting a duel. With all 
 these things Baker, of course, had nothing to do ; nor do 
 I complain of them. As to his own church going for him 
 I think that was right enough ; and as to the influences I 
 have spoken of in the other, though they were very 
 strong, it would be grossly untrue and unjust to charge 
 that they acted upon them in a body, or were very near 
 so. I only mean that those influences levied a tax of con- 
 siderable per cent, and throughout the religious contro- 
 versy." To a proposition offering to instruct the Menard 
 delegation for him he replies : "You say you shall instruct 
 your delegates for me unless I object. I certainly shall 
 not object. That w T ould be too pleasant a compliment for 
 me to tread in the dust. And besides, if anything should 
 happen (which, however, is not probable) by which Baker 
 should be thrown out of the fight, I would be at liberty 
 
214 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 to accept the nomination if I could get it. I do, however, 
 feel myself bound not to hinder him in any way from get- 
 ting the nomination. I should despise myself were I to 
 attempt it." 
 
 Baker's friends had used as an argument against Lin- 
 coln that he belonged to a proud and aristocratic family, 
 referring doubtless to some of the distinguished relatives 
 who were connected with him by marriage. The story 
 reaching Lincoln's ears, he laughed heartily over it one 
 day in a Springfield store and remarked: 
 
 "That sounds strange to me, for I do not remember 
 of but one who ever came to see me, and while he was in 
 town he was accused of stealing a jew , s-harp. ,, In the 
 convention which was held shortly after at the town of 
 Pekin neither Baker nor Lincoln obtained the coveted 
 honor; but John J. Hardin, of Morgan, destined to lose 
 his life at the head of an Illinois regiment in the Mexican 
 w r ar, was nominated, and in the following August, elected 
 by a good majority. Lincoln bore his defeat manfully. 
 He was no doubt greatly disappointed, but by no means 
 soured. He conceived the strange notion that the pub- 
 licity given his so-called "aristocratic family distinction" 
 would cost him the friendship of his humbler constituents 
 — his Clary's Grove friends. He took his friend James 
 Matheny out into the woods with him one day and, call- 
 ing up the bitter features of the canvass, protested "ve- 
 hemently and with great emphasis" that he was anything 
 but aristocratic and proud. "Why, Jim," he said, "I am 
 now and always shall be the same Abe Lincoln I was when 
 you first saw me." 
 
 In the campaign of 1844 Lincoln filled the honorable 
 post of Presidential elector, and he extended the limits of 
 his acquaintance by stumping the State. This was the 
 year the gallant and magnetic Clay went down in defeat. 
 Lincoln, in the latter end of the canvass, crossed over into 
 Indiana and made several speeches. He spoke at Rock- 
 port and also at Gentryville, where he met the Grigsbys, 
 the Gentrys, and other friends of his boyhood. The re- 
 sult of the election was a severe disappointment to Mr. 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 215 
 
 Lincoln as well as to all other Whigs. No election since 
 the foundation of the Government created more wide- 
 spread regret than the defeat of Clay by Polk. Men were 
 never before so enlisted in any man's cause, and when the 
 great Whig chieftain went down his followers fled from 
 the field in utter demoralization. Some doubted the suc- 
 cess of popular government, while others, more hopeful 
 still in the face of the general disaster, vowed they would 
 never shave their faces or cut their hair till Henry Clay 
 became President. As late as 1880 I saw one man who 
 had lived up to his insane resolution. One political society 
 organized to aid Clay's election sent the defeated candi- 
 date an address, in which they assured him that, after 
 the smoke of battle had cleared away, he would ever be 
 remembered as one "whose name honored defeat and gave 
 it a glory which victory could not have brought." In 
 Lincoln's case his disappointment was no greater than 
 that of any other Whig. Many persons have yielded to 
 the impression that Mr. Lincoln visited Clay at his home in 
 Lexington and felt a personal loss in his defeat, but such 
 is not the case. He took no more gloomy view of the 
 situation than the rest of his party. He had been a leading 
 figure himself in other campaigns, and was fully inured 
 to the chilling blasts of defeat. They may have driven 
 him in, but only for a short time, for he soon evinced a 
 willingness to test the temper of the winds again. 
 
 No sooner had Baker been elected to Congress in Au- 
 gust 1844, than Lincoln began to manifest a longing for 
 the tempting prize to be contended for in 1846. Hardin 
 and Baker both having been required to content themselves 
 with a single term each, the struggle among Whig aspirants 
 narrowed down to Logan and Lincoln. The latter's claim 
 seemed to find such favorable lodgment with the party 
 workers, and his popularity seemed so apparent, that Logan 
 soon realized his own want of strength and abandoned 
 the field to his late law partner. 
 
 The Whig candidates for Congress in the Springfield 
 district "rotated" in the following order : Baker succeeded 
 Hardin in 1844, Lincoln was elected in 1846, and Logan 
 
2l6 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 was nominated but defeated in 1848. Lincoln publicly 
 declined to contest the nomination with Baker in 1844; 
 Hardin did the same for Lincoln in 1846 — although both 
 seem to have acted reluctantly; and Lincoln refused to 
 run against Logan in 1848. Many persons insist that an 
 agreement among these four conspicuous Whig leaders to 
 content themselves with one term each actually existed. 
 There is, however, no proof of any bargain, although 
 there seems to have been a tacit understanding of the 
 kind — maintained probably to keep other and less tractable 
 candidates out of the field. 21 
 
 [The real struggle for the nomination in 1846 was be- 
 tween Lincoln and Hardin, who, elected in 1843, had given 
 way to Baker the following year. Both men, having had 
 a taste of life in Washington, threatened to oppose Lin- 
 coln for the nomination in 1846. Lincoln successfully 
 induced Baker to decline a renomination, but Hardin was 
 determined upon a contest. Soon after Baker's with- 
 drawal Hardin proposed to Lincoln that, the convention 
 system of nominations be discarded and a new plan, more 
 favorable to his own chances, be substituted. Lincoln 
 rejected the proposal. Hardin remonstrated, and Lincoln 
 answered in a long, candid letter which throws much 
 light on his political methods. 
 
 "In the early part of your letter," Lincoln reminds 
 Hardin, "you introduce the proposition made by me to 
 you and Baker, that we should take a turn a piece; and 
 alluding to the principle you suppose be involved in it, in 
 an after part of your letter you say — 'As a whig I have 
 constantly combatted such practices when practiced among 
 the Locos ; & I do not see that they are any more praise- 
 worthy, or less anti-republican, when sought to be adopted 
 by whigs/ Now, if my proposition had been that we 
 (yourself, Baker & I) should be candidates by turns, and 
 that we should unite our strength throughout to keep down 
 all other candidates, I should not deny the justice of the 
 censurable language you employ; but if you so understood 
 it, you wholly misunderstood it. I never expressed, nor 
 
 21 Original footnote. 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 217 
 
 meant to express, that by such an arrangement, any of us 
 should be, in the least restricted in his right to support 
 any person he might choose, in the District; but only 
 that he should not himself, be a candidate out of his turn. 
 I felt then, and it seems to me I said then, that even with 
 such an arrangement, should Governor Duncan be a can- 
 didate, when you were not, it would be your privilege and 
 perhaps your duty to go for him. 
 
 "In this, the true sense of my proposition/' Lincoln de- 
 clares, "I deny that there is any thing censurable in it — 
 anything but a spirit of mutual concession, for harmony's 
 sake. 
 
 "In this same connection/' he reminds Hardin again, 
 "you say, 'It is, in effect, acting upon the principle that 
 the District is a horse which each candidate may mount 
 and ride a two mile heat without consulting any body but 
 the grooms & Jockeys/ Well, of course, you go on the 
 contrary of this principle; which is, in effect acting on 
 the principle that the District is a horse which, the first 
 jockey that can mount him, may whip and spur round 
 and round, till jockey, or horse, or both, fall dead on the 
 track. And upon your principle, there is a fact as fatal 
 to your claims as mine, which is, that neither you nor I, 
 but Baker is the jockey now in the stirrups. 
 
 "'Without consulting any bodyi but the grooms & 
 Jockeys' is an implied charge that I wish, in some way 
 to interfere with the right of the people to select their 
 candidate. I do not understand it so. I, and my few 
 friends say to the people that 'Turn about is fair play.' 
 You and your friends do not meet this, and say 'Turn 
 about is not fair play' — but insist the argument itself 
 ought not to be used. Fair or unfair, why not trust the 
 people to decide it?" 
 
 In conclusion, Lincoln makes a forceful plea for Har- 
 din's withdrawal from the contest. "I believe you do not 
 mean to be unjust, or ungenerous;" he remarks, "and I, 
 therefore am slow to believe that you will not think 
 better and think differently of this matter." 
 
2l8 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 A few days later Hardin wrote a public letter declining 
 longer to be considered a candidate. 22 ] 
 
 The convention which nominated Lincoln met at Peters- 
 burg May 1, 1846. Hardin, who, in violation of what was 
 then regarded as precedent, had been seeking the nomina- 
 tion, had courteously withdrawn. Logan, ambitious to 
 secure the honor next time for himself, with apparent 
 generosity presented Lincoln's name to the convention, 
 and there being no other candidate he was chosen unani- 
 mously. The reader need not be told whom the Demo- 
 crats placed in the field against him. It was Peter Cart- 
 wright, the famous Methodist divine and circuit rider. 
 An energetic canvass of three months followed, during 
 which Lincoln kept his forces well in hand. He was 
 active and alert, speaking everywhere, and abandoning 
 his share of business in the law office entirely. He had 
 a formidable competitor in Cartwright, who not only had 
 an extensive following by reason of his church influence, 
 but rallied many more supporters around his standard by 
 his pronounced Jacksonian attitude. He had come into 
 Illinois with the early immigrants from Kentucky and 
 Tennessee, and had at one time or another preached to 
 almost every Methodist congregation between Springfield 
 and Cairo. He had extensive family connections all over 
 the district, was almost twenty-five years older than Lin- 
 coln, and in every respect a dangerous antagonist. An- 
 other thing which operated much to Lincoln's disadvantage 
 was the report circulated by Cartwright's friends with re- 
 spect to Lincoln's religious views. He was charged with 
 the grave offence of infidelity, and sentiments which he 
 was reported to have expressed with reference to the in- 
 spiration of the Bible were given the campaign varnish 
 and passed from hand to hand. His slighting allusion 
 expressed in the address at the Presbyterian Church be- 
 fore the Washington Temperance Society, February 22d 
 four years before, to the insincerity of the Christian peo- 
 ple was not forgotten. It, too, played its part; but all 
 these opposing circumstances were of no avail. Cart- 
 22 Angle, New Letters and Papers of Lincoln, pp. 22-28. 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 219 
 
 wright was personally very popular, but it was plain the 
 people of the Springfield district wanted no preacher to 
 represent them in Congress. They believed in an absolute 
 separation of Church and State. The election, therefore, 
 of such a man as Cartwright would not, to their way of 
 thinking, tend to promote such a result. I was enthu- 
 siastic and active in Lincoln's interest myself. The very 
 thought of my associate's becoming a member of Con- 
 gress was a great stimulus to my self-importance. Many 
 other friends in and around Springfield were equally as 
 vigilant, and, in the language of another, "long before the 
 contest closed we snuffed approaching victory in the air." 
 Our laborious efforts met with a suitable reward. Lin- 
 coln was elected by a majority of 1511 in the district, a 
 larger vote than Clay's two years before, which was only 
 914. In Sangamon County his majority was 690, and ex- 
 ceeded that of any of his predecessors on the Whig ticket, 
 commencing with Stuart in 1834 and continuing on down 
 to the days of Yates in 1852. 
 
 Before Lincoln's departure for Washington to enter on 
 his duties as a member of Congress, the Mexican war had 
 begun. The volunteers had gone forward, and at the 
 head of the regiments from Illinois some of the bravest 
 men and the best legal talent in Springfield had marched. 
 Hardin, Baker, Bissell, and even the dramatic Shields had 
 enlisted. The issues of the war and the manner of its 
 prosecution were in every man's mouth. Naturally, there- 
 fore, a Congressman-elect would be expected to publish 
 his views and define his position early in the day. Al- 
 though, in common with the Whig party, opposing the 
 declaration of war, Lincoln, now that hostilities had com- 
 menced, urged a vigorous prosecution. He admonished us 
 all to permit our Government to suffer no dishonor, and 
 to stand by the flag till peace came and came honorably to 
 us. He declared these sentiments in a speech at a public 
 meeting in Springfield, May 29, 1847. In the following 
 December he took his seat in Congress. He was the only 
 Whig from Illinois. His colleagues in the Illinois dele- 
 gation were John A. McClernand, O. B. Ficklin, William 
 
220 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 A. Richardson, Thomas J. Turner, Robert Smith, and 
 John Wentworth. In the Senate Douglas had made his 
 appearance for the first time. The Little Giant is always 
 in sight! Robert C. Winthrop, of Massachusetts, was 
 chosen Speaker. John Quincy Adams, Horace Mann, 
 Caleb Smith, Alexander H. Stephens, Robert Toombs, 
 Howell Cobb, and Andrew Johnson were important mem- 
 bers of the House. With many of these the newly elected 
 member from Illinois was destined to sustain another 
 and far different relation. 
 
 On the Sth of December, the day before the House 
 organized, Lincoln wrote me a letter about our fee in a 
 law-suit and reported the result of the Whig caucus the 
 night before. On the 13th he wrote again: "Dear Wil- 
 liam : — Your letter, advising me of the receipt of our fee 
 in the bank case, is just received, and I don't expect to 
 hear another as good a piece of news from Springfield 
 while I am away." He then directed me from the proceeds 
 of this fee to pay a debt at the bank, and out of the bal- 
 ance left to settle sundry dry-goods and grocery bills. 
 The modest tone of the last paragraph is its most striking 
 feature. "As you are all so anxious for me to distinguish 
 myself," he said, "I have concluded to do so before long." 
 January 8 he writes : "As to speech-making, by way of 
 getting the hang of the House, I made a little speech two 
 or three days ago on a post-office question of no general 
 interest. I find speaking here and elsewhere about the 
 same thing. I was about as badly scared, and no worse, 
 as I am when I speak in court. I expect to make one 
 within a week or two in which I hope to succeed well 
 enough to wish you to see it." Meanwhile, in recognition 
 of the assurances I had sent him from friends who de- 
 sired to approve his course by a reelection, he says : "It 
 is very pleasant to me to learn from you that there are 
 some who desire that I should be reelected. I most 
 heartily thank them for the kind partiality, and I can say, 
 as Mr. Clay said of the annexation of Texas, that, 'per- 
 sonally, I would not object' to a reelection, although I 
 thought at the time, and still think, it would be quite as 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 221 
 
 well for me to return to the law at the end of a single 
 term. I made the declaration that I would not be a candi- 
 date again, more from a wish to deal fairly with others, 
 to keep peace among our friends, and to keep the district 
 from going to the enemy, than for any cause personal to 
 myself, so that if it should happen that nobody else wishes 
 to be elected I could not refuse the people the right of 
 sending me again. But to enter myself as a competitor 
 of others, or to authorize any one so to enter me, is 
 what my word and honor forbid." 
 
 His announcement of a willingness to accept a reelec- 
 tion if tendered him by the people was altogether unneces- 
 sary, for within a few days after this letter was written 
 his constituents began to manifest symptoms of grave 
 disapproval of his course on the Mexican war question. 
 His position on this subject was evidenced by certain reso- 
 lutions offered by him in the House three weeks before. 
 These latter were called the "Spot Resolutions, " and they 
 and the speech which followed on the 12th of January in 
 support of them not only sealed Lincoln's doom as a Con- 
 gressman, but in my opinion, lost the district to the Whigs 
 in 1848, when Judge Logan had succeeded at last in ob- 
 taining the nomination. 
 
 Although differing with the President as to the justice 
 or even propriety of a war with Mexico, Lincoln was not 
 unwilling to vote, and with the majority of his party did 
 vote, the supplies necessary to carry it on. He did this, 
 however, with great reluctance, protesting all the while 
 that "the war was unnecessarily and unconstitutionally 
 begun by the President." The "Spot Resolutions," which 
 served as a text for his speech on the 12th of January, 
 and which caused such unwonted annoyance in the ranks 
 of his constituents, were a series following a preamble 
 loaded with quotations from the President's messages. 
 These resolutions requested the President to inform the 
 House: "First. Whether the spot on which the blood of 
 our citizens was shed as in his messages declared was 
 or was not within the territory of Spain, at least after the 
 treaty of 1819, until the Mexican revolution. Second. 
 
222 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 Whether that spot is or is not within the territory which 
 was wrested from Spain by the revolutionary govern- 
 ment of Mexico. Third. Whether that spot is or is not 
 within a settlement of people, which settlement has ex- 
 isted ever since long before the Texas revolution, and 
 until its inhabitants fled before the approach of the United 
 States army." There were eight of these interrogatories, 
 but it is only necessary to reproduce the three which fore- 
 shadow the position Lincoln was then intending to as- 
 sume. On the 12th of January, as before stated, he 
 followed them up with a carefully prepared and well 
 arranged speech, in which he made a severe arraignment 
 of President Polk and justified the pertinence and pro- 
 priety of the inquiries he had a few days before addressed 
 to him. The speech is too long for insertion here. It 
 was constructed much after the manner of a legal argu- 
 ment. Reviewing the evidence furnished by the President 
 in his various messages, he undertook to "smoke him out" 
 with this: "Let the President answer the interrogatories 
 I proposed, as before mentioned, or other similar ones. 
 Let him answer fully, fairly, candidly. Let him answer 
 with facts, not with arguments. Let him remember, he 
 sits where Washington sat; and so remembering, let him 
 answer as Washington would answer. As a nation should 
 not, and the Almighty will not, be evaded, so let him at- 
 tempt no evasion, no equivocation. And if, so answering, 
 he can show the soil was ours where the first blood of the 
 war was shed ; that it was not within an inhabited country, 
 or if within such; that the inhabitants had submitted 
 themselves to the civil authority of Texas or of the United 
 States; and that the same is true of the site of Fort 
 Brown, then I am with him for his justification . . . But 
 if he cannot or will not do this — if, on any pretence, or no 
 pretence, he shall refuse or omit it — then I shall be fully 
 convinced of what I more than suspect already — that he is 
 deeply conscious of being in the wrong; that he feels the 
 blood of this war, like the blood of Abel, is crying to 
 Heaven against him ; that he ordered General Taylor into 
 the midst of a peaceful Mexican settlement purposely to 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 223 
 
 bring on a war; that, originally having some strong mo- 
 tive — which I will not now stop to give my opinion con- 
 cerning — to involve the countries in a war, and trusting 
 to escape scrutiny by fixing the public gaze upon the ex- 
 ceeding brightness of military glory, — that attractive rain- 
 bow that rises in showers of blood, that serpent's eye that 
 charms to destroy, — he plunged into it, and has swept on 
 and on, till disappointed in his calculation of the ease with 
 which Mexico might be subdued, he now finds himself 
 he knows not where. He is a bewildered, confounded, and 
 miserably perplexed man. God grant that he may be able 
 to show that there is not something about his conscience 
 more painful than all his mental perplexity." This speech, 
 however clear may have been its reasoning, however rich 
 in illustration, in restrained and burning earnestness, yet 
 was unsuccessful in "smoking out" the President. He 
 remained within the official seclusion his position gave 
 him, and declined to answer. 23 In fact it is doubtless true 
 that Lincoln anticipated no response, but simply took that 
 means of defining clearly his own position. 
 
 On the 19th inst., having occasion to write me with ref- 
 erence to a note with which one of our clients, one Louis 
 Candler, had been "annoying" him, "not the least of which 
 annoyance/' he complains, "is his cursed unreadable and 
 ungodly handwriting," he adds a line, in which with notice- 
 able modesty he informs me: "I have made a speech, a 
 copy of which I send you by mail." He doubtless felt he 
 was taking rather advanced and perhaps questionable 
 ground. And so he was, for very soon after, murmurs 
 of dissatisfaction began to run through the Whig ranks. 
 I did not, as some of Lincoln's biographers would have 
 their readers believe, inaugurate this feeling of dissatis- 
 faction. On the contrary, as the law partner of the Con- 
 gressman, and as his ardent admirer, I discouraged the 
 defection all I could. Still, when I listened to the com- 
 ments of his friends everywhere after the delivery of 
 his speech, I felt that he had made a mistake. I therefore 
 
 23 Not a single mention of Lincoln is to be found in Polk's 
 voluminous diary. 
 
224 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 wrote him to that effect, at the same time giving him my 
 own views, which I knew were in full accord with the 
 views of his Whig constituents. My argument in sub- 
 stance was : That the President of the United States is 
 Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy; that as 
 such commander it was his duty, in the absence of Con- 
 gress, if the country was about to be invaded and armies 
 were organized in Mexico for that purpose, to go — if 
 necessary — into the very heart of Mexico and prevent 
 the invasion. I argued further that it would be a crime 
 in the Executive to let the country be invaded in the least 
 degree. The action of the President was a necessity, and 
 under a similar necessity years afterward Mr. Lincoln 
 himself emancipated the slaves, although he had no special 
 power under the Constitution to do so. In later days, in 
 what is called the Hodges letter, concerning the freedom 
 of the slaves, he used this language: 
 
 "I felt that measures otherwise unconstitutional might 
 become lawful by becoming indispensable. " 
 
 Briefly stated, that was the strain of my argument. My 
 judgment was formed on the law of nations and of war. 
 If the facts were as I believed them, and my premises cor- 
 rect, then I assumed that the President's acts became 
 lawful by becoming indispensable. 
 
 February 1 he wrote me, "Dear William: You fear 
 that you and I disagree about the war. I regret this, not 
 because of any fear we shall remain disagreed after you 
 have read this letter, but because if you misunderstand I 
 fear other good friends may also." 
 
 Speaking of his vote in favor of the amendment to the 
 supply bill proposed by George Ashmun, of Massachu- 
 setts, he continues : 
 
 "That vote affirms that the war was unnecessarily and un- 
 constitutionally commenced by the President ; and I will stake 
 my life that if you had been in my place you would have voted 
 just as I did. Would you have voted what you felt and knew 
 to be a lie? I know you would not. Would you have gone 
 out of the House, — skulked the vote? I expect not. If you 
 had skulked one vote you would have had to skulk many more 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 225 
 
 before the close of the session. Richardson's resolutions, in- 
 troduced before I made any move or gave any vote upon the 
 subject, make the direct question of the justice of the war; 
 so that no man can be silent if he would. You are compelled 
 to speak ; and your only alternative is to tell the truth or tell a 
 lie. I cannot doubt which you would do . . . I do not mean 
 this letter for the public, but for you. Before it reaches you 
 you will have seen and read my pamphlet speech and per- 
 haps have been scared anew by it. After you get over your 
 scare read it over again, sentence by sentence, and tell me 
 honestly what you think of it. I condensed all I could for 
 fear of being cut off by the hour rule ; and when I got through 
 I had spoken but forty-five minutes. 
 
 "Yours forever, 
 
 "A. Lincoln." 
 
 I digress from the Mexican war subject long enough 
 to insert, because in the order of time it belongs here, a 
 characteristic letter which he wrote me regarding a man 
 who was destined at a later date to play a far different 
 role in the national drama. Here it is: 
 
 "Washington, Feb. 2, 1848. 
 "Dear William : 
 
 "I just take up my pen to say that Mr. Stephens, of Georgia, 
 a little, slim, pale-faced, consumptive man, with a voice like 
 Logan's, has just concluded the very best speech of an hour's 
 length I ever heard. My old, withered, dry eyes are full of 
 tears yet. If he writes it out anything like he delivered it 
 our people shall see a good many copies of it. 
 
 "Yours truly, 
 
 "A. Lincoln." 
 To Wm. H. Herndon, Esq. 
 
 February 15 he wrote me again in criticism of the 
 President's invasion of foreign soil. He still believed the 
 Executive had exceeded the limit of his authority. "The 
 provision of the Constitution giving the war-making power 
 to Congress," he insists, "was dictated, as I understand it, 
 by the following reasons ; kings had always been involving 
 and impoverishing their people in wars, pretending gen- 
 
226 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 erally, if not always, that the good of the people was the 
 object. This, our convention understood to be the most 
 oppressive of all kingly oppressions ; and they resolved to 
 so frame the Constitution that no one man should hold 
 the power of bringing this oppression upon us. But your 
 view destroys the whole matter, and places our President 
 where kings have always stood." 
 
 In June the Whigs met in national convention at Phila- 
 delphia to nominate a candidate for President. Lincoln 
 attended as a delegate. He advocated the nomination of 
 Taylor because of his belief that he could be elected, and 
 was correspondingly averse to Clay because of the latter's 
 signal defeat in 1844. In a letter from Washington a 
 few days after the convention he predicts the election of 
 "Old Rough." He says : "In my opinion we shall have a 
 most overwhelming glorious triumph. One unmistakable 
 sign is that all the odds and ends are with us — Barn- 
 burners, Native Americans, Tyler-men, disappointed office- 
 seeking Locofocos, and the Lord knows what not . . . 
 Taylor's nomination takes the Locos on the blind side. It 
 turns the war thunder against them. The war is now to- 
 them the gallows of Haman, which they built for us and 
 on which they are doomed to be hanged themselves." 
 
 Meanwhile, in spite of the hopeful view Lincoln seemed 
 to take of the prospect, things in his own district were in 
 exceedingly bad repair. I could not refrain from appris- 
 ing him of the extensive defections from the party 
 ranks, and the injury his course was doing him. My 
 object in thus writing to him was not to threaten him. 
 Lincoln was not a man who could be successfully threat- 
 ened ; one had to approach him from a different direction. 
 I warned him of public disappointment over his course, 
 and I earnestly desired to prevent him from committing 
 what I believed to be political suicide. June 22d he an- 
 swered a letter I had written him on the 15th. He had 
 just returned from a Whig caucus held in relation to the 
 coming Presidential election. "The whole field of the 
 nation was scanned; all is high hope and confidence," he 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 227 
 
 said exultingly. "Illinois is expected to better her con- 
 dition in this race. Under these circumstances judge how 
 heartrending it was to come to my room and find and 
 read your discouraging letter of the 15th." But still he 
 does not despair. "Now, as to the young men," he says, 
 "you must not wait to be brought forward by the older 
 men. For instance, do you suppose that I should ever 
 have got into notice if I had waited to be hunted up and 
 pushed forward by older men? You young men get to- 
 gether and form a Rough and Ready club, and have 
 regular meetings and speeches. Take in everybody that 
 you can get ... As you go along gather up all the 
 shrewd, wild boys about town, whether just of age or a 
 little under age. Let every one play the part he can play 
 best — some speak, some sing, and all halloo. Your meet- 
 ings will be of evenings ; the older men and the women 
 will go to hear you, so that it will not only contribute to 
 the election of 'Old Zack,' but will be an interesting pas- 
 time and improving to the faculties of all engaged." He 
 was evidently endeavoring through me to rouse up all 
 the enthusiasm among the youth of Springfield possible 
 under the circumstances. But I was disposed to take a 
 dispirited view of the situation, and therefore was not 
 easily warmed up. I felt at this time, somewhat in advance 
 of its occurrence, the death throes of the Whig party. I 
 did not conceal my suspicions, and one of the Springfield 
 papers gave my sentiments liberal quotation in its columns. 
 I felt gloomy over the prospect, and cut out these news- 
 paper slips and sent them to Lincoln. Accompanying 
 these I wrote him a letter equally melancholy in tone, 
 in which among other things I reflected severely on 
 the stubbornness and bad judgment of the old fossils in 
 the party, who were constantly holding the young men 
 back. This brought from him a letter, July 10, 1848, 
 which is so clearly Lincolnian and so full of plain philos- 
 ophy, that I copy it in full. Not the least singular of 
 all is his allusion to himself as an old man, although he 
 had scarcely passed his thirty-ninth year. 
 
228 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 "Washington, July 10, 1848. 
 "Dear William : 
 
 "Your letter covering the newspaper slips was received last 
 night. The subject of that letter is exceedingly painful to 
 me, and I cannot but think there is some mistake in your im- 
 pression of the motives of the old men. I suppose I am now 
 one of the old men; and I declare on my veracity, which I 
 think is good with you, that nothing could afford me more 
 satisfaction than to learn that you and others of my young 
 friends at home were doing battle in the contest and endearing 
 themselves to the people and taking a stand far above any I 
 have ever been able to reach in their admiration. I cannot 
 conceive that other men feel differently. Of course I cannot 
 demonstrate what I say ; but I was young once, and I am sure 
 I was never ungenerously thrust back. I hardly know what 
 to say. The way for a young man to rise is to improve him- 
 self every way he can, never suspecting that anybody wishes 
 to hinder him. Allow me to assure you that suspicion and 
 jealousy never did help any man in any situation. There may 
 sometimes be ungenerous attempts to keep a young man 
 down; and they will succeed, too, if he allows his mind to be 
 diverted from its true channel to brood over the attempted in- 
 jury. Cast about and see if this feeling has not injured every 
 person you have ever known to fall into it. 
 
 "Now, in what I have said I am sure you will suspect 
 nothing but sincere friendship. I would save }^ou from a fatal 
 error. You have been a laborious, studious young man. You 
 are far better informed on almost all subjects than I ever have 
 been. You cannot fail in any laudable object unless you allow 
 your mind to be improperly directed. I have some the ad- 
 vantage of you in the world's experience merely by being 
 older; and it is this that induces me to advise. 
 
 "Your friend, as ever, 
 
 "A. Lincoln. " 
 
 Before the close of the Congressional session he made 
 two more speeches. One of these, which he hastened to 
 send home in pamphlet form, and which he supposes 
 "nobody will read/' was devoted to the familiar subject 
 of internal improvements, and deserves only passing men- 
 tion. The other, delivered on the 27th of July, was in its 
 way a masterpiece; and it is no stretch of the truth to 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 22Q 
 
 say that while intended simply as a campaign document 
 and devoid of any effort at classic oratory, it was, perhaps, 
 one of the best speeches of the session. It is too extended 
 for insertion here without abridgment ; but one who reads 
 it will lay it down convinced that Lincoln's ascendency for 
 a quarter of a century among the political spirits in Illi- 
 nois was by no means an accident ; neither will the reader 
 wonder that Douglas, with all his forensic ability, averted, 
 as long as he could, a contest with a man whose plain, 
 analytical reasoning was not less potent than his mingled 
 drollery and caricature were effective. The speech in the 
 main is an arraignment of General Cass, the Democratic 
 candidate for President, who had already achieved great 
 renown in the political world, principally on account of 
 his career as a soldier in the war of 1812, and is a tri- 
 umphant vindication of his Whig opponent, General 
 Taylor, who seemed to have had a less extensive knowl- 
 edge of civil than of military affairs, and was discreetly 
 silent about both. Lincoln caricatured the military pre- 
 tentions of the Democratic candidate in picturesque style. 
 This latter section of the speech has heretofore been 
 omitted by most of Mr. Lincoln's biographers because of 
 its glaring inappropriateness as a Congressional effort. I 
 have always failed to see wherein its comparison with 
 scores of others delivered in the halls of Congress since 
 that time could in any way detract from the fame of Mr. 
 Lincoln, and I therefore reproduce it here: 
 
 "But the gentleman from Georgia [Mr. Iverson] further 
 says, we have deserted all our principles, and taken shelter 
 under General Taylor's military coat-tail; and he seems to 
 think this is exceedingly degrading. Well, as his faith is, so 
 be it unto him. But can he remember no other military coat- 
 tail, under which a certain other party have been sheltering 
 for near a quarter of a century ? Has he no acquaintance with 
 the ample military coat-tail of General Jackson? Does he 
 not know that his own party have run the last five Presidential 
 races under that coat-tail ? and that they are now running the 
 sixth under the same cover? Yes, sir, that coat-tail was used 
 not only for General Jackson himself, but has been clung to 
 
23O LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 with the grip of death by every Democratic candidate since. 
 You have never ventured, and dare not now venture from un- 
 der it. Your campaign papers have constantly been 'Old 
 Hickory's/ with rude likeness of the old general upon them; 
 hickory poles and hickory brooms your never-ending emblems. 
 Mr. Polk himself was 'Young Hickory/ 'Little Hickory/ or 
 something so ; and even now your campaign paper here is pro- 
 claiming that Cass and Butler are of the 'Hickory stripe.' 
 No, sir, you dare not give it up. Like a horde of hungry 
 ticks, you have stuck to the tail of the Hermitage lion to the 
 end of his life; and you are still sticking to it, and drawing a 
 loathsome sustenance from it, after he is dead. A fellow once 
 advertised that he had made a discovery by which he could 
 make a new man out of an old man and have enough of the 
 stuff left to make a little yellow dog. Just such a discovery 
 has General Jackson's popularity been to you. You not only 
 twice made Presidents of him out of it, but you have enough 
 of the stuff left to make Presidents of several comparatively 
 small men since; and it is your chief reliance now to make 
 still another. 
 
 "Mr. Speaker, old horses and military coat-tails, or tails of 
 any sort, are not figures of speech such as I would be the first 
 to introduce into discussion here; but as the gentleman from 
 Georgia has thought fit to introduce them, he and you are 
 welcome to all you have made or can make by them. If you 
 have any more old horses, trot them out; any more tails, just 
 cock them and come at us. I repeat, I would not introduce 
 this mode of discussion here; but I wish gentlemen on the 
 other side to understand that the use of degrading figures is 
 a game at which they may find themselves unable to take all 
 the winnings. [A voice 'No, we give it up'] Aye ! you give 
 it up, and well you may ; but for a very different reason from 
 that which you would have us understand. The point — the 
 power to hurt — of all figures consists in the truthfulness of 
 their application; and, understanding this, you may well give 
 it up. They are weapons which hit you, but miss us. 
 
 "But in my hurry I was very near closing on this subject 
 of the military tails before I was done with it. There is one 
 entire article of the sort I have not discussed yet; I mean the 
 military tail you Democrats are now engaged in dovetailing 
 on to the great Michigander. Yes, sir, all his biographers 
 (and they are legion) have him in hand, tying him to a mili- 
 tary tail, like so many mischievous boys tying a dog to a 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 23 1 
 
 bladder of beans. True, the material is very limited, but they 
 are at it might and main. He invaded Canada without resist- 
 ance, and he outvaded it without pursuit. As he did both un- 
 der orders, I suppose there was to him neither credit nor dis- 
 credit ; but they are made to constitute a large part of the tail. 
 He was not at Hull's surrender, but he was close by ; he was 
 volunteer aid to General Harrison on the day of the battle of 
 the Thames; and as you said in 1840 Harrison was picking 
 whortleberries two miles off while the battle was fought I sup- 
 pose it is a just conclusion with you to say Cass was aiding 
 Harrison to pick whortleberries. This is about all, except the 
 mooted question of the broken sword. Some authors say he 
 broke it; some say he threw it away; and some others, who 
 ought to know, say nothing about it. Perhaps it would be a 
 fair historical compromise to say if he did not break it, he did 
 not do anything else with it. 
 
 "By the way, Mr. Speaker, did you know I am a military 
 hero ? Yes, sir, in the days of the Black Hawk war, I fought, 
 bled, and came away. Speaking of General Cass's career, re- 
 minds me of my own. I was not at Stillman's defeat, but I 
 was about as near it as Cass was to Hull's surrender ; and, like 
 him, I saw the place very soon afterward. It is quite certain 
 I did not break my sword, for I had none to break, but I bent 
 my musket pretty badly on one occasion. If Cass broke his 
 sword, the idea is, he broke it in desperation ; I bent the musket 
 by accident. If General Cass went in advance of me picking 
 whortleberries, I guess I surpassed him in charges upon the 
 wild onions. If he saw any live fighting Indians, it was more 
 than I did, but I had a good many bloody struggles with the 
 mosquitos ; and, although I never fainted from loss of blood, I 
 can truly say I was often very hungry. Mr. Speaker, if ever 
 I should conclude to doff whatever our Democratic friends 
 may suppose there is of black-cockade Federalism about me, 
 and, thereupon they shall take me up as their candidate for the 
 Presidency, I protest that they shall not make fun of me as 
 they have of General Cass by attempting to write me into a 
 military hero." 
 
 After the adjournment of Congress on the 14th of 
 August, Lincoln went through New York and some of 
 the New England States making a number of speeches 
 for Taylor, none of which, owing to the limited facilities 
 attending newspaper reporting in that day, have been pre- 
 
232 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 served. He returned to Illinois before the close of the 
 canvass and continued his efforts on the stump till after 
 the election. 
 
 [Lincoln's tour through New England was probably 
 an attempt to stop the serious inroads which the new Free 
 Soil party, under the leadership of Van Buren, Sumner 
 and Charles Francis Adams, was making in the old Whig 
 stronghold. He made his first speech at Worcester, Mass- 
 achusetts, on September 12, the evening before the Whig 
 State Convention assembled there. He remained for the 
 convention, but took no part in its proceedings. After- 
 ward he spoke at Chelsea, Dedham, Cambridge and Lowell, 
 and concluded his tour with an address in Boston on Sep- 
 tember 22. 
 
 Herndon was not aware that Lincoln's speech at 
 Worcester had been reported with reasonable complete- 
 ness in the Boston Advertiser. The newspaper report 
 shows that Lincoln singled out the Free Soilers for par- 
 ticular attention. As to slavery, he said, "the people of 
 Illinois agreed entirely with the people of Massachusetts 
 on this subject, except perhaps that they did not keep so 
 constantly thinking about it. All agreed that slavery was 
 an evil, but that we were not responsible for it and can- 
 not affect it in states of this Union where we do not live. 
 But, the question of the extension of slavery to new ter- 
 ritories of this country, is a part of our responsibility 
 and care, and is under our control." 
 
 Lincoln went on to claim that in opposing slavery ex- 
 tension the Whigs were far more effective than the Free 
 Soilers. The election of Van Buren was impossible, 
 therefore the Free Soilers were really contributing to the 
 election of Cass, under whom the extension of slavery 
 would meet no check. "General Taylor, he confidently 
 believed, would not encourage it, and would not prohibit its 
 restriction. " 
 
 The Advertiser, in accordance with the partisan custom, 
 described Lincoln's speech as "truly masterly and convinc- 
 
 ing-"] 
 
 At the second session of Congress, which began in 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 233 
 
 December, he was less conspicuous than before. The few- 
 weeks spent with his constituents had perhaps taught him 
 that in order to succeed as a Congressman it is not always 
 the most politic thing to tell the truth because it is the 
 truth, or to do right because it is right. With the open- 
 ing of Congress, by virtue of the election of Taylor, the 
 Whigs obtained the ascendency in the control of govern- 
 mental machinery. He attended to the duties of the Con- 
 gressional office diligently and with becoming modesty. 
 He answered the letters of his constituents, sent them 
 their public documents, and looked after their pension 
 claims. His only public act of any moment was a bill 
 looking to the emancipation of the slaves in the District 
 of Columbia. He interested Joshua R. Giddings and others 
 of equally as pronounced anti-slavery views in the sub- 
 ject, but his bill eventually found a lodgment on "the 
 table," where it was carefully but promptly laid by a vote 
 of the House. 
 
 [Slavery was the paramount subject of discussion dur- 
 ing the second session of the thirtieth Congress, and the 
 abolition of that institution in the District of Columbia 
 was earnestly urged. It was as an amendment to a resolu- 
 tion instructing the Committee on the District of Colum- 
 bia to report a bill abolishing slavery there that Lincoln, 
 on January 10, 1849, read his own bill for accomplishing 
 that purpose. 
 
 Lincoln sought to do away with slavery in the District 
 by a gradual process. Slaves held there were to continue 
 in servitude at their masters' will, but if any owner wished 
 to emancipate a slave he was to be compensated from 
 the national treasury 7 , the amount to be determined by a 
 board composed of the President, Secretary of State and 
 Secretary of the Treasury. Children born of slave mothers 
 within the District after January 1, 1850 were ultimately 
 to be free. Owners of the mothers were to support and 
 educate them, and they were obligated to serve as appren- 
 tices until a fixed age. Thus, in time, slavery would dis- 
 appear. Public officials, however, were to be permitted 
 to bring with them and hold in slavery an adequate num- 
 
234 LIFE 0F LINCOLN 
 
 ber of household servants; and provision was made for 
 the return of fugitive slaves who should take refuge in 
 the District. The final clause in the bill provided for an 
 election at which the measure might be voted upon by 
 all citizens of the District over twenty-one years of age 
 who had lived there one year or more. If a majority fav- 
 ored it, the President was to put it in force at once by 
 proclamation. 
 
 When he had finished reading his bill, Lincoln stated 
 that it had been submitted to and approved by "about fif- 
 teen of the leading citizens of the District of Columbia," 
 but he refused to give their names, and no more atten- 
 tion was paid to his own measure. On January 16 he 
 gave notice of a motion for leave to introduce it as a bill, 
 but when the session ended on March 4, 1849 he had not 
 done so. 24 ] 
 
 Meanwhile, being chargeable with the distribution of 
 official patronage, he began to flounder about in explana- 
 tion of his action in a sea of seemingly endless perplex- 
 ities. His recommendation of the appointment of T. R. 
 King to be Register or Receiver of the Land Office had 
 produced no little discord among the other aspirants for 
 the place. He wrote to a friend who endorsed and urged 
 the appointment, "either to admit it is wrong, or come 
 forward and sustain him." He then transmits to this 
 same friend a scrap of paper — probably a few lines ap- 
 proving the selection of King — which is to be copied in the 
 friend's own handwriting. "Get everybody," he insists, 
 "(not three or four, but three or four hundred) to sign 
 it, and then send it to me. Also have six, eight, or ten 
 of our best known Whig friends to write me additional 
 letters, stating the truth in this matter as they understood 
 it. Don't neglect or delay in the matter. I understand," 
 he continues, "information of an indictment having been 
 found against him three years ago for gaming or keeping 
 a gaming house has been sent to the Department." He 
 then closes with the comforting assurance: "I shall try 
 to take care of it at the Department till your action can 
 24 See Beveridge, L, pp. 480 et seq. 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 235 
 
 be had and forwarded on." And still people insist that 
 Mr. Lincoln was such a guileless man and so free from 
 the politician's sagacity ! 
 
 In June I wrote him regarding the case of one Walter 
 Davis, who was soured and disappointed because Lincoln 
 had overlooked him in his recommendation for the Spring- 
 field post-office. "There must be some mistake," he re- 
 sponds on the 5th, "about Walter Davis saying I prom- 
 ised him the post-office. I did not so promise him. I did 
 tell him that if the distribution of the offices should fall into 
 my hands he should have something; and if I shall be con- 
 vinced he has said any more than this I shall be disap- 
 pointed. I said this much to him because, as I under- 
 stand, he is of good character, is one of the young men, 
 is of the mechanics, is always faithful and never trouble- 
 some, a Whig, and is poor, with the support of a widow- 
 mother thrown almost exclusively on him by the death of 
 his brother. If these are wrong reasons then I have been 
 wrong; but I have certainly not been selfish in it, be- 
 cause in my greatest need of friends he was against me 
 and for Baker." 
 
 Judge Logan's defeat in 1848 left Lincoln still in a meas- 
 ure in charge of the patronage in his district. After his 
 term in Congress expired the "wriggle and struggle" for 
 office continued ; and he was often appealed to for his 
 influence in obtaining, as he termed it, "a way to live 
 without work." Occasionally, when hard pressed, he re- 
 torted with bitter sarcasm. I append a letter written in 
 this vein to a gentleman still living in central Illinois, who, 
 I suppose, would prefer that his name should be with- 
 held i 25 
 
 "Springfield, Dec. 15, 1849. 
 
 " Esq. 
 
 "Dear Sir: 
 
 ''On my return from Kentucky I found your letter of the 
 
 7th of November, and have delayed answering it till now for 
 
 the reason I now briefly state. From the beginning of our 
 
 acquaintance I had felt the greatest kindness for you and had 
 
 25 The man was George W, Rives, of Paris, Illinois. 
 
236 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 supposed it was reciprocated on your part. Last summer, 
 under circumstances which I mentioned to you, I was pain- 
 fully constrained to withhold a recommendation which you de- 
 sired, and shortly afterwards I learned, in such a way as to 
 believe it, that you were indulging in open abuse of me. Of 
 course my feelings were wounded. On receiving your last 
 letter the question occurred whether you were attempting to 
 use me at the same time you would injure me, or whether you 
 might not have been misrepresented to me. If the former, I 
 ought not to answer you ; if the latter, I ought, and so I have 
 remained in suspense. I now enclose you the letter, which 
 you may use if }^ou see fit. 
 
 "Yours, etc. 
 
 "A. Lincoln." 
 
 No doubt the man, when Lincoln declined at first to 
 recommend him, did resort to more or less abuse. That 
 would have been natural, especially with an unsuccessful 
 and disappointed office-seeker. I am inclined to the opin- 
 ion, and a careful reading of the letter will warrant it, 
 that Lincoln believed him guilty. If the recommendation 
 which Lincoln, after so much reluctance, gave was ever 
 used to further the applicant's cause I do not know it. 
 
 With the close of Lincoln's Congressional career he 
 drops out of sight as a political factor, and for the next 
 few years we take him up in another capacity. He did 
 not solicit or contend for a renomination to Congress, and 
 such was the unfortunate result of his position on public 
 questions that it is doubtful if he could have succeeded had 
 he done so. 
 
HAPTER TEN 
 
 AFTER THE WEDDING OF LINCOLN AND MISS TODD AT THE 
 
 Edwards mansion we hear but little of them as a married 
 couple till the spring of 1843, when the husband writes 
 to his friend Speed, who had been joined to his "black- 
 eyed Fanny" a little over a year, with regard to his life 
 as a married man. "Are you possessing houses and lands," 
 he writes, "and oxen and asses and men-servants and 
 maid-servants, and begetting sons and daughters ? We are 
 not keeping house, but boarding at the Globe Tavern, 
 which is very well kept now by a widow lady of the name 
 of Beck. Our room (the same Dr. Wallace occupied 
 there) and boarding only costs us four dollars a week." 
 Gaining a livelihood was slow and discouraging business 
 with him, for we find him in another letter apologizing 
 for his failure to visit Kentucky, "because," he says, "I 
 am so poor and make so little headway in the world that 
 I drop back in a month of idleness as much as I gain in 
 a year's sowing." But by dint of untiring efforts and the 
 recognition of influential friends he managed through rare 
 frugality to move along. In his struggles, both in the law 
 and for political advancement, his wife shared in his sacri- 
 fices. She was a plucky little woman, and in fact endowed 
 with a more restless ambition than he. She was gifted with 
 a rare insight into the motives that actuate mankind, and 
 there is no doubt that much of Lincoln's success was in a 
 measure attributable to her acuteness and the stimulus 
 of her influence. His election to Congress within four 
 years after their marriage afforded her extreme gratifica- 
 tion. She loved power and prominence, and when occa- 
 sionally she came down to our office, it seemed to me then 
 
238 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 that she was inordinately proud of her tall and ungainly 
 husband. She saw in him bright prospects ahead, and his 
 every move was watched by her with the closest interest. 
 If to other persons he seemed homely, to her he was the 
 embodiment of noble manhood, and each succeeding day 
 impressed upon her the wisdom of her choice of Lincoln 
 over Douglas — if in reality she ever seriously accepted the 
 latter's attentions. "Mr. Lincoln may not be as handsome 
 a figure," she said one day in the office during her hus- 
 band's absence, when the conversation turned on Douglas, 
 "but the people are perhaps not aware that his heart is as 
 large as his arms are long." 
 
 Mrs. Lincoln accompanied her husband to Washington 
 and remained during one session of Congress. While there 
 they boarded at the same house with Joshua R. Giddings, 
 and when in 1856 the valiant old Abolitionist came to take 
 part in the canvass in Illinois, he early sought out Lincoln, 
 with whom he had been so favorably impressed several 
 years before. On his way home from Congress Lincoln 
 came by way of Niagara Falls and down Lake Erie to 
 Toledo or Detroit. It happened that, some time after, I 
 went to New York and also returned by way of Niagara 
 Falls. In the office, a few days after my return, I was 
 endeavoring to entertain my partner with an account of my 
 trip, and among other things described the Falls. In the 
 attempt I indulged in a good deal of imagery. As I 
 warmed up with the subject my descriptive powers ex- 
 panded accordingly. The mad rush of water, the roar, the 
 rapids, and the rainbow furnished me with an abundance 
 of material for a stirring and impressive picture. The 
 recollection of the gigantic and awe-inspiring scene stimu- 
 lated my exuberant powers to the highest pitch. After 
 well-nigh exhausting myself in the effort I turned to Lin- 
 coln for his opinion. "What," I inquired, "made the deep- 
 est impression on you when you stood m the presence of 
 the great natural wonder ?" I shall never forget his answer, 
 because it in a very characteristic way illustrates how he 
 looked at everything. "The thing that struck me most 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 239 
 
 forcibly when I saw the Falls," he responded, "was, where 
 in the world did all that water come from?" He had no 
 eye for the magnificence and grandeur of the scene, for the 
 rapids, the mist, the angry waters, and the roar of the 
 whirlpool, but his mind, working in its accustomed channel, 
 heedless of beauty or awe, followed irresistibly back to the 
 first cause. It was in this light he viewed every question. 
 However great the verbal foliage that concealed the naked- 
 ness of a good idea Lincoln stripped it all down till he 
 could see clear the way between cause and effect. If there 
 was any secret in his power this surely was it. 
 
 After seeing Niagara Falls he continued his journey 
 homeward. At some point on the way, the vessel on which 
 he had taken passage stranded on a sand bar. The captain 
 ordered the hands to collect all the loose planks, empty 
 barrels and boxes and force them under the sides of the 
 boat. These empty casks were used to buoy it up. After 
 forcing enough of them under the vessel she lifted gradu- 
 ally and at last swung clear of the opposing sand bar. Lin- 
 coln had watched this operation very intently. It no doubt 
 carried him back to the days of his navigation on the tur- 
 bulent Sangamon, when he and John Hanks had rendered 
 similar service at New Salem dam to their employer the 
 volatile Offut. Continual thinking on the subject of lift- 
 ing vessels over sand bars and other obstructions in the 
 water suggested to him the idea of inventing an apparatus 
 for the purpose. Using the principle involved in the oper- 
 ation he had just witnessed, his plan was to attach a kind 
 of bellows on each side of the hull of the craft just below 
 the water line, and by an odd system of ropes and pulleys, 
 whenever the keel grated on the sand these bellows were to 
 be filled with air, and thus buoyed up, the vessel was ex- 
 pected to float clear of the shoal. On reaching home he at 
 once set to work to demonstrate the feasibility of his plan. 
 Walter Davis, a mechanic having a shop near our office, 
 granted him the use of his tools, and likewise assisted him 
 in making the model of a miniature vessel with the arrange- 
 ment as above described. Lincoln manifested ardent in- 
 
240 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 terest in it. Occasionally he would bring the model in the 
 office, and while whittling on it would descant on its merits 
 and the revolution it was destined to work in steamboat 
 navigation. Although I regarded the thing as impractica- 
 ble I said nothing, probably out of respect for Lincoln's 
 well-known reputation as a boatman. The model was sent 
 or taken by him to Washington, where a patent was issued, 
 but the invention was never applied to any vessel, so far as 
 I ever learned, and the threatened revolution in steamboat 
 architecture and navigation never came to pass. The 
 model still reposes in undisturbed slumber on the shelves 
 m the Patent Office, and is the only evidence now existing 
 of Lincoln's success as an inventor. 
 
 Following is a copy of Lincoln's application for the 
 patent on his "Improved Method of Lifting Vessels Over 
 Shoals": "What I claim as my invention, and desire to 
 secure by letters patent, is the combination of expansible 
 buoyant chambers placed at the sides of a vessel with the 
 main shaft or shafts by means of the sliding spars, which 
 pass down through the buoyant chambers and are made 
 fast to their bottoms and the series of ropes and pulleys or 
 their equivalents in such a manner that by turning the main 
 shaft or shafts in one direction the buoyant chambers will 
 be forced downwards into the water, and at the same time 
 expanded and filled with air for buoying up the vessel by 
 the displacement of water, and by turning the shafts in an 
 opposite direction the buoyant chambers will be contracted 
 into a small space and secured against injury. A. Lincoln." 
 
 Shortly before the close of his term in Congress he 
 appears in a new role. Having failed of a re-election he 
 became an applicant for the office of Commissioner of the 
 General Land Office. He had been urged to this step by 
 many of his Whig friends in Illinois, but he was so hedged 
 about with other aspirants from his own State that he soon 
 lost all heart in the contest. He was too scrupulous, and 
 lacked too much the essentials of self-confidence and per- 
 sistence, to be a successful suitor for office. In a letter to 
 Joshua Speed, who had written him of a favorable refer- 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 24I 
 
 ence to him by Mr. Crittenden, of Kentucky, 1 he says, 
 February 20, 1849, "I am flattered to learn that Mr. Crit- 
 tenden has any recollection of me which is not unfavorable ; 
 and for the manifestation of your kindness towards me I 
 sincerely thank you. Still, there is nothing about me to 
 authorize me to think of a first-class office, and a second- 
 class one would not compensate me for being sneered at 
 by others who want it for themselves. I believe that, so 
 far as the Whigs in Congress are concerned, I could have 
 the General Land Office almost by common consent ; but 
 then Sweet and Don Morrison and Browning and Cyrus 
 Edwards all want it, and what is worse, while I think I 
 could easily take it myself I fear I shall have trouble to get 
 it for any other man in Illinois. The reason is that 
 McGaughey, an Indiana ex-member of Congress, is here 
 after it, and being personally known he will be hard to beat 
 by any one who is not." But, as the sequel proved, there 
 was no need to fear the Hoosier stateman, for although he 
 had the endorsement of General Scott and others of equal 
 influence, yet he was left far behind in the race, and along 
 with him Lincoln, Morrison, Browning, and Edwards. 
 A dark horse in the person of Justin Butterfield sprang 
 into view, and with surprising facility captured the tempt- 
 ing prize. This latter and successful aspirant was a lawyer 
 of rather extensive practice and reputation in Chicago. He 
 was shrewd, adroit, and gifted with a knowledge of what 
 politicians would call good management — a quality or char- 
 acteristic in which Lincoln was strikingly deficient. He 
 had endorsed the Mexican war, but strangely enough, had 
 lost none of his prestige with the Whigs on that account. 2 
 
 1 The original edition contains the following explanatory foot- 
 note : "Lincoln had asked Speed to see Crittenden (then Governor 
 of Kentucky) and secure from the latter a recommendation for 
 Baker, who wanted a first-class foreign mission. Crittenden did 
 not approve of Baker, but suggested that he would favor Lincoln, 
 whom he regarded as a rising man. Speed suggested to Lincoln 
 to apply for the place himself. 'I have pledged myself to Baker,' 
 he answered, 'and cannot under any circumstances consent to the 
 use of my name so long as he is urged for the same place'." 
 
 2 In the original edition Herndon printed the following letter 
 from Butterfield's daughter : 
 
242 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 [Lincoln's correspondence, with which Herndon was 
 only partly familiar, tells a somewhat different story of his 
 attempt to secure the Commissionership of the General 
 Land Office. While Congress was still in session he had 
 pledged himself to work for the appointment of Cyrus 
 Edwards of Edwardsville, Illinois. When other applicants 
 appeared, he agreed with E. D. Baker, recently elected 
 from the Sixth District, that if Edwards and J. L. D. 
 Morrison, of Belleville, could decide who would yield to 
 the other, they would jointly support the applicant. When 
 a group of Lincoln's friends wrote him that they favored 
 him for the position, he answered that he was committed 
 to Edwards' candidacy; however, "if the office could be 
 secured to Illinois only by my consent to accept it, and not 
 otherwise, I give that consent." 
 
 But soon after his return to Washington it became 
 evident, at least to Lincoln, that neither Edwards nor 
 Morrison had the slightest chance of securing the com- 
 missionership. Justin Butterfield of Chicago had become 
 an applicant, and Lincoln alone had a chance to defeat him. 
 Accordingly, he set to work to secure endorsements of his 
 own application, admitting Butterneld's qualifications for 
 the office, but basing his own claim upon greater party serv- 
 
 "Chicago, Oct. 12th, 
 "Mr. Jesse W. Weik. 
 
 "Dear Sir: 
 
 "My father was born in Keene, N. H., in 1790, entered Wil- 
 liams College, 1807, and removed to Chicago in 1835. After the 
 re-accession of the Whigs to power he was on the 21st of June 
 in 1849 appointed Commissioner of the Land Office by President 
 Taylor. A competitor for the position at that time was Abraham 
 Lincoln, who was beaten, it was said, by 'the superior dispatch 
 of Butterfield in reaching Washington by the Northern route,' 
 but more correctly by the paramount influence of his friend Daniel 
 Webster. 
 
 "He held the position of Land Commissioner until disabled by 
 paralysis in 1852. After lingering for three years in a disabled 
 and enfeebled condition, he died at his home in Chicago, October 
 23d, 1855, in his sixty-third year. 
 
 "Very respectfully, 
 
 "Elizabeth Sawyer/' 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 243 
 
 ices. Butterfield's appointment, he maintained, would be 
 a tremendous political blunder, being in effect the bestowal 
 of a valuable office upon one of the "old drones" of the 
 party, while the younger, active workers went unrewarded. 
 
 Early in June, 1849, Lincoln decided that a trip to Wash- 
 ington was imperative if he were to secure the commis- 
 sionership. To the accompaniment of Democratic jibes he 
 set out for the capital. It was too late, however. Power- 
 ful backers — notably Henry Clay and Daniel Webster — 
 were supporting Butterfield, and his appointment was soon 
 announced. 
 
 The lack of unanimous support for his own candidacy 
 was an important cause of Lincoln's failure. Even in 
 Springfield there were active enemies, twenty-eight Whig 
 "mechanics" of that city signing a petition expressing dis- 
 satisfaction with "the course of Abraham Lincoln as a 
 member of Congress from this Congressional district/' 
 and recommending Justin Butterfield as "a suitable per- 
 son to occupy the office of Commisioner of the General 
 Land Office." 3 ] 
 
 The close of Congress and the inauguration of Taylor 
 were the signal for Lincoln's departure from Washington. 
 He left with the comforting assurance that as an office- 
 seeker he was by no means a success. Besides his lack of 
 persistence, he had an unconscious feeling of superiority 
 and pride that admitted of no such flexibility of opinion 
 as the professional suitor for office must have, in order to 
 succeed. He remained but a few days at his home in 
 Illinois, however, before he again set out for Washington. 
 The administration of President Taylor feeling that some 
 reward was due Lincoln for his heroic efforts on the stump 
 and elsewhere in behalf of the Whig party and its meas- 
 ures, had offered him the office of either Governor or Sec- 
 retary of Oregon, and with the view of considering this 
 and other offers he returned to Washington. 4 Lincoln 
 
 3 See Beveridge, I., pp. 487-91 ; Angle, New Letters mid Papers 
 of Lincoln, pp. 55-57. 
 
 4 Lincoln's trip to Washington was a part of his attempt to 
 secure the General Land Office. The Oregon appointment was 
 offered at a later date. 
 
244 LIFE 0F LINCOLN 
 
 used to relate of this last-named journey an amusing inci- 
 dent illustrating Kentucky hospitality. He set out from 
 Ransdell's tavern in Springfield, early in the morning. The 
 only other passenger in the stage for a good portion of the 
 distance was a Kentuckian, on his way home from Mis- 
 souri. The latter, painfully impressed no doubt with 
 Lincoln's gravity and melancholy, undertook to relieve the 
 general monotony of the ride by offering him a chew of 
 tobacco. With a plain "No, sir, thank you ; I never chew," 
 Lincoln declined, and a long period of silence followed. 
 Later in the day the stranger, pulling from his pocket a 
 leather-covered case, offered Lincoln a cigar, which he also 
 politely declined on the ground that he never smoked. 
 Finally, as they neared the station where horses were to be 
 changed, the Kentuckian, pouring out a cup of brandy 
 from a flask which had lain concealed in his satchel, offered 
 it to Lincoln with the remark, "Well, stranger, seeing you 
 don't smoke or chew, perhaps you'll take a little of this 
 French brandy. It's a prime article and a good appetizer 
 besides." His tall and uncommunicative companion de- 
 clined this last and best evidence of Kentucky hospitality 
 on the same ground as the tobacco. When they separated 
 that afternoon, the Kentuckian, transferring to another 
 stage, bound for Louisville, shook Lincoln warmly by the 
 hand. "See here, stranger," he said, good-humoredly, 
 "you're a clever, but strange companion. I may never see 
 you again, and I don't want to offend you, but I want to 
 say this : my experience has taught me that a man who has 
 no vices has d — d few virtues. Good-day." Lincoln en- 
 joyed this reminiscence of the journey, and took great 
 pleasure in relating it. During this same journey occurred 
 an incident for which Thomas H. Nelson, of Terre Haute, 
 Indiana, who was appointed Minister to Chili by Lincoln, 
 when he was President, is authority. "In the spring of 
 1849," relates Nelson, "Judge Abram Hammond, who was 
 afterwards Governor of Indiana, and I arranged to go 
 from Terre Haute to Indianapolis in the stage coach. An 
 entire day was usually consumed in the journey. By day- 
 break the stage had arrived from the West, and as we 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 245 
 
 stepped in we discovered that the entire back seat was 
 occupied by a long, lank individual, whose head seemed 
 to protrude from one end of the coach and his feet from 
 the other. He was the sole occupant, and was sleeping 
 soundly. Hammond slapped him familiarly on the 
 shoulder, and asked him if he had chartered the stage for 
 the day. The stranger, now wide awake, responded, 'Cer- 
 tainly not/ and at once took the front seat, politely sur- 
 rendering to us the place of honor and comfort. We took 
 in our travelling companion at a glance. A queer, odd- 
 looking fellow he was, dressed in a well worn and ill-fitting 
 suit of bombazine, without vest or cravat, and a twenty- 
 five cent palm hat on the back of his head. His very 
 prominent features in repose seemed dull and expression- 
 less. Regarding him as a good subject for merriment we 
 perpetrated several jokes. He took them all with the 
 utmost innocence and good-nature, and joined in the laugh, 
 although at his own expense. At noon we stopped at a 
 wayside hostelry for dinner. We invited him to eat with 
 us, and he approached the table as if he considered it a 
 great honor. He sat with about half his person on a small 
 chair, and held his hat under his arm during the meal. 
 Resuming our journey after dinner, conversation drifted 
 into a discussion of the comet, a subject that was then 
 agitating the scientific world, in which the stranger took 
 the deepest interest. He made many startling suggestions 
 and asked many questions. We amazed him with words of 
 learned length and thundering sound. After an astounding 
 display of wordy pyrotechnics the dazed and bewildered 
 stranger asked : 'What is going to be the upshot of this 
 comet business ?' I replied that I was not certain, in fact 
 I differed from most scientists and philosophers, and was 
 inclined to the opinion that the world would follow the 
 darned thing off ! Late in the evening we reached Indian- 
 apolis, and hurried to Browning's hotel, losing sight of 
 the stranger altogether. We retired to our room to brush 
 and wash away the dust of the journey. In a few minutes 
 I descended to the portico, and there descried our long, 
 gloomy fellow-traveller in the center of an admiring group 
 
246 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 of lawyers, among whom were Judges McLean and Hunt- 
 ington, Edward Hannigan, Albert S. White, and Richard 
 W. Thompson, who seemed to be amused and interested 
 in a story he was telling. I inquired of Browning, the 
 landlord, who he was. "Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois, a 
 member of Congress," was the response. I was thunder- 
 struck at the announcement. I hastened upstairs and told 
 Hammond the startling news, and together we emerged 
 from the hotel by a back door and went down an alley to 
 another house, thus avoiding further contact with our now 
 distinguished fellow-traveler. Curiously enough, years 
 after this, Hammond had vacated the office of Governor of 
 Indiana a few days before Lincoln arrived in Indianapolis, 
 on his w r ay to Washington to be inaugurated President. I 
 had many opportunities after the stage ride to cultivate Mr. 
 Lincoln's acquaintance, and was a zealous advocate of his 
 nomination and election to the Presidency. Before leaving 
 his home for Washington, Mr. Lincoln caused John P. 
 Usher and myself to be invited to accompany him. We 
 agreed to join him in Indianapolis. On reaching that 
 city the Presidential party had already arrived, and upon 
 inquiry we were informed that the President-elect was in 
 the dining-room of the hotel, at supper. Passing through, 
 we saw that every seat at the numerous tables was occupied, 
 but failed to find Mr. Lincoln. As we were nearing the 
 door to the office of the hotel, a long arm reached to my 
 shoulder and a shrill voice exclaimed, 'Hello, Nelson! do 
 you think, after all, the world is going to follow the 
 darned thing off?' It was Mr. Lincoln." 
 
 The benefits and advantages of the territorial posts 
 offered by President Taylor to Lincoln were freely dis- 
 cussed by the latter's friends. Some urged his acceptance 
 on the usual ground that when Oregon was admitted as a 
 State, he might be its first Senator. Lincoln himself had 
 some inclination to accept. He told me himself that he 
 felt by his course in Congress he had committed political 
 suicide, and wanted to try a change of locality — hence the 
 temptation to go to Oregon. But when he brought the 
 proposition home to his fireside, his wife put her foot 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 247 
 
 squarely down on it with a firm and emphatic No. That 
 always ended it with Lincoln. The result of the whole 
 thing proved a fortunate deliverance for him, the propriety 
 of which became more apparent as the years rolled by. 
 
 About this time Grant Goodrich, a lawyer in Chicago, 
 proposed to take Lincoln into partnership with him. Good- 
 rich had an extensive and paying practice there, but Lin- 
 coln refused the offer, giving as a reason that he tended 
 to consumption, and, if he removed to a city like Chicago, 
 he would have to sit down and study harder than ever. 
 The close application required of him and the confinement 
 in the office, he contended, would soon kill him. He pre- 
 ferred going around on the circuit, and even if he earned 
 smaller fees he felt much happier. 5 
 
 While a member of Congress and otherwise immersed 
 in politics Lincoln seemed to lose all interest in law. Of 
 course, what practice he himself controlled passed into 
 other hands. I retained all the business I could, and 
 worked steadily on until, when he returned, our practice 
 was as extensive as that of any other firm at the bar. 
 Lincoln realized that much of this was due to my efforts, 
 and on his return he therefore suggested that he had no 
 right to share in the business and profits which I had 
 made. I responded that, as he had aided me and given 
 me prominence when I was young and needed it, I could 
 afford now to be grateful if not generous. I therefore 
 recommended a continuation of the partnership, and we 
 went on as before. I could notice a difference in Lin- 
 coln's movement as a lawyer from this time forward. He 
 had begun to realize a certain lack of discipline — a want 
 of mental training and method. Ten years had wrought 
 some change in the law, and more in the lawyers, of 
 Illinois. The conviction had settled in the minds of the 
 people that the pyrotechnics of court room and stump 
 oratory did not necessarily imply extensive or profound 
 ability in the lawyer who resorted to it. The courts were 
 becoming graver and more learned, and the lawyer was 
 
 5 Original footnote. 
 
248 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 learning as a preliminary and indispensable condition to 
 success that he must be a close reasoner, besides having 
 at command a broad knowledge of the principles on which 
 the statutory law is constructed. There was of course 
 the same riding on circuit as before, but the courts had 
 improved in tone and morals, and there was less laxity — 
 at least it appeared so to Lincoln. Political defeat had 
 wrought a marked effect on him. It went below the skin 
 and made a changed man of him. He was not soured 
 at his seeming political decline, but still he determined to 
 eschew politics from that time forward and devote him- 
 self entirely to the law. And now he began to make up 
 for time lost in politics by studying the law in earnest. 
 No man had greater power of application than he. Once 
 fixing his mind on any subject, nothing could interfere 
 with or disturb him. Frequently I would go out on the 
 circuit with him. We, usually, at the little country inns 
 occupied the same bed. In most cases the beds were too 
 short for him, and his feet would hang over the floor- 
 board, thus exposing a limited expanse of shin bone. 
 Placing a candle on a chair at the head of the bed, he would 
 read and study for hours. I have known him to study 
 in this position till two o'clock in the morning. Mean- 
 while, I and others who chanced to occupy the same room 
 would be safely and soundly asleep. On the circuit in 
 this way he studied Euclid until he could with ease dem- 
 onstrate all the propositions in the six books. How he 
 could maintain his mental equilibrium or concentrate his 
 thoughts on an abstract mathematical proposition, while 
 Davis, Logan, Swett, Edwards, and I so industriously and 
 volubly filled the air with our interminable snoring was 
 a problem none of us could ever solve. I was on the cir- 
 cuit with Lincoln probably one-fourth of the time. The 
 remainder of my time was spent in Springfield looking 
 after the business there, but I know that life on the cir- 
 cuit was a gay one. It was rich with incidents, and af- 
 forded the nomadic lawyers ample relaxation from all 
 the irksome toil that fell to their lot. Lincoln loved it. 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 249 
 
 I suppose it would be a fair estimate to state that he spent 
 over half the year following Judges Treat and Davis 
 around on the circuit. On Saturdays the court and at- 
 torneys, if within a reasonable distance, would usually 
 start for their homes. Some went for a fresh supply of 
 clothing, but the greater number went simply to spend a 
 day of rest with their families. The only exception was 
 Lincoln, who usually spent his Sundays with the loungers 
 at the country tavern, and only went home at the end of 
 the circuit or term of court. "At first," 6 relates one of 
 his colleagues on the circuit (David Davis), "we wondered 
 at it, but soon learned to account for his strange disinclina- 
 tion to go home. Lincoln himself never had much to say 
 about home, and we never felt free to comment on it. 
 Most of us had pleasant, inviting homes, and as we struck 
 out for them I'm sure each one of us down in our hearts 
 had a mingled feeling of pity and sympathy for him." If 
 the day was long and he was oppressed, the feeling was 
 soon relieved by the narration of a story. The tavern 
 loungers enjoyed it, and his melancholy, taking to itself 
 wings, seemed to fly away. In the role of a story-teller I am 
 prone to regard Mr. Lincoln as without an equal. I have 
 seen him surrounded by a crowd numbering as many as 
 two and in some cases three hundred persons, all deeply 
 interested in the outcome of a story which, when he had 
 finished it, speedily found repetition in every grocery and 
 lounging place within reach. His power of mimicry, as 
 I have before noted, and his manner of recital, were in 
 many respects unique, if not remarkable. His counte- 
 
 6 Prior to the '50's, when the main lines of most of the present 
 railroad systems of Illinois were constructed, Lincoln could have 
 had little opportunity to return to his home on week-ends. While 
 most of the lawyers of the circuit practiced only in counties 
 adjacent to their own, he made the entire round. Since courts 
 were held on both Saturday and Monday, distance prevented him 
 from returning- to Springfield except at long intervals, though 
 other attorneys, living much nearer, might visit their families 
 almost every Sunday. As a matter of fact, as transportation 
 facilities improved Lincoln's absences became shorter and shorter. 
 
250 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 nance and all his features seemed to take part in the per- 
 formance. As he neared the pith or point of the joke 
 or story every vestige of seriousness disappeared from 
 his face. His little gray eyes sparkled; a smile seemed 
 to gather up, curtain like, the corners of his mouth; his 
 frame quivered with suppressed excitement; and when 
 the point — or "nub" of the story, as he called it — came, 
 no one's laugh was heartier than his. These backwoods 
 allegories are out of date now, and any lawyer, ambitious 
 to gain prominence, would hardly dare thus to entertain 
 a crowd, except at the risk of his reputation; but with 
 Lincoln it gave him, in some mysterious way, a singu- 
 larly firm hold on the people. 
 
 Lincoln was particularly strong in Menard County, and 
 while on the circuit there he met with William Engle and 
 James Murray, two men who were noted also for their 
 story-telling proclivities. I am not now asserting for the 
 country and the period what would at a later day be con- 
 sidered a very high standard of taste. Art had not such 
 patrons as today, but the people loved the beautiful as 
 nature furnished it, and the good as they found it, with 
 as much devotion as the more refined classes now are 
 joined to their idols. Newspapers were scarce, and the 
 court-house, with its cluster of itinerant lawyers, dissem- 
 inated much of the information that was afterwards 
 broken up into smaller bits at the pioneer's fireside. A 
 curious civilization indeed, but one through which every 
 Western State distant from the great arterial river or 
 seaboard has had to pass. 
 
 When Lincoln, Murray, and Engle met, there was sure 
 to be a crowd. All were more or less masters in their 
 art. I have seen the little country tavern where these three 
 were wont to meet after an adjournment of court, crowded 
 almost to suffocation with an audience of men who had 
 gathered to witness the contest among the members of 
 the strange triumvirate. The physicians of the town, all 
 the lawyers, and not unfrequently a preacher could be 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 25 1 
 
 found in the crowd that filled the doors and windows. 
 The yarns they spun and the stories they told would not 
 bear repetition here, but many of them had morals which, 
 while exposing the weaknesses of mankind, stung like a 
 whip-lash. Some were no doubt a thousand years old, 
 with just enough "verbal varnish" and alterations of names 
 and dates to make them new and crisp. By virtue of the 
 last-named application, Lincoln was enabled to draw from 
 Balzac a "droll story," and locating it in "Egypt" 7 or in 
 Indiana, pass it off for a purely original conception. Ev- 
 ery recital was followed by its "storm of laughter and 
 chorus of cheers." After this had all died down, some 
 unfortunate creature, through whose thickened skull the 
 point had just penetrated, would break out in a guffaw, 
 starting another wave of laughter which, growing to the 
 proportions of a billow, would come rolling in like a 
 veritable breaker. I have known these story-telling jousts 
 to continue long after midnight — in some cases till the 
 very small hours of the morning. I have seen Judge Treat, 
 who was the very impersonation of gravity itself, sit up 
 till the last and laugh until, as he often expressed it, "he 
 almost shook his ribs loose." The next day he would 
 ascend the bench and listen to Lincoln in a murder trial, 
 with all the seeming severity of an English judge in wig 
 and gown. Amid such surroundings, a leading figure in 
 such society, alternately reciting the latest effusion of 
 the bar-room or mimicking the clownish antics of the 
 negro minstrel, he who was destined to be an immortal 
 emancipator, was steadily and unconsciously nearing the 
 great trial of his life. We shall see further on how this 
 rude civilization crystallized both his logic and his wit 
 for use in another day. 
 
 Reverting again to Mr. Lincoln as a lawyer, it is proper 
 to add that he detested the mechanical work of the office. 
 
 7 The word Egypt, so frequently used in this book, refers to 
 that portion of Illinois which lies south of the famous National 
 Road. 
 
252 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 He wrote few papers — less perhaps than any other man at 
 the bar. Such work was usually left to me for the first 
 few years we were together. Afterwards we made good 
 use of students who came to learn the law in our office. 8 
 A Chicago lawyer, Henry C. Whitney, in a letter to me 
 about Mr. Lincoln, in 1866, says: "Lincoln once told me 
 that he had taken you in as a partner, supposing you had 
 system and would keep things in order, but that he found 
 out you had no more system than he had, but that you were 
 in reality a good lawyer, so that he was doubly disap- 
 pointed. " Lincoln knew no such thing as order or method 
 in his law practice. He made no preparation in advance, 
 but trusted to the hour for its inspiration and to Providence 
 for his supplies. In the matter of letter-writing he made no 
 distinction between one of a business nature or any other 
 kind. In 1842 he wrote Joshua Speed : "I wish you would 
 learn of Everett what he would take, over and above a 
 discharge, for all trouble we have been at to take his busi- 
 ness out of our hands and give it to somebody else. It 
 is impossible to collect money on that or any other claim 
 here, now, and although you know I am not a very petu- 
 lant man, I declare that I am almost out of patience with 
 Mr. Everett's endless importunities. It seems like he not 
 only writes all the letters he can himself, but he gets 
 everybody else in Louisville and vicinity to be constantly 
 writing to us about his claim. I have always said that 
 Mr. Everett is a very clever fellow, and I am very sorry he 
 cannot be obliged ; but it does seem to me he ought to 
 know we are interested to collect his claim, and therefore 
 would do it if we could. I am neither joking nor in a 
 pet when I say we would thank him to transfer his busi- 
 ness to some other, without any compensation for what 
 we have done, provided he will see the court costs paid 
 
 8 1 have seen hundreds of pleadings bearing the firm name 
 of Lincoln & Herndon. Even to the purely formal praecipe, 
 the great majority — perhaps ninety per cent — are in Lincoln's 
 handwriting. The balance are almost entirely in Herndon's writ- 
 ing. Very rarely can one be identified as the work of a student. 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 253 
 
 for which we are security." 9 If a happy thought of ex- 
 pression struck him he was by no means reluctant to use it. 
 As early as 1839 he wrote to a gentleman about a 
 matter of business, observing crustily that "a d d hawk- 
 billed Yankee is here besetting me at every turn I take, 
 saying that Robert Kenzie never received the $80 to which 
 he was entitled." In July, 1851, he wrote a facetious 
 message to one of his clients, saying: "I have news from 
 Ottawa that we win our case. As the Dutch justice said 
 when he married folks, 'Now where ish my hundred tol- 
 lars'." 
 
 The following letter shows how Lincoln proposed to 
 fill a vacancy in the office of Clerk of the United States 
 Court. It reads like the letter of a politician in the midst 
 of a canvass for office: 
 
 ''Springfield, III., December 6, 1854. 
 "Hon. Justice McLean. 
 
 "Sir : I understand it is in contemplation to displace the 
 present Clerk and appoint a new one for the Circuit and Dis- 
 trict Courts of Illinois. I am very friendly to the present in- 
 cumbent, and both for his own sake and that of his family, I 
 wish him to be retained so long as it is possible for the Court 
 to do so. 
 
 "In the contingency of his removal, however, I have recom- 
 mended William Butler as his successor, and I do not wish 
 what I write now to be taken as any abatement of that recom- 
 mendation. 
 
 "William J. Black is also an applicant for the appointment, 
 and I write this at the solicitation of his friends to say that 
 he is every way worthy of the office, and that I doubt not the 
 conferring it upon him will give great satisfaction. 
 
 "Your ob't servant, 
 
 "A. Lincoln/' 10 
 
 He was proverbially careless as to habits. In a letter 
 to a fellow-lawyer in another town, apologizing for fail- 
 
 9 In the original edition Herndon used this quotation as a foot- 
 note. 
 
 10 Original footnote. 
 
254 LIFE 0F LINCOLN 
 
 ure to answer sooner, he explains: "First, I have been 
 very busy in the United States Court; second, when I 
 received the letter I put it in my old hat and buying a 
 new one the next day the old one was set aside, and so 
 the letter was lost sight of for a time." This hat of Lin- 
 coln's — a silk plug — was an extraordinary receptacle. It 
 was his desk and his memorandum-book. In it he car- 
 ried his bank book and the bulk of his letters. Whenever 
 in his reading or researches he wished to preserve an 
 idea, he jotted it down on an envelope or stray piece of 
 paper and placed it inside the lining. Afterwards when 
 the memorandum was needed there was only one place to 
 look for it. 
 
 Lincoln had always on the top of our desk a bundle 
 of papers into which he slipped anything he wished to 
 keep and afterwards refer to. It was a receptacle of gen- 
 eral information. Some years ago, on removing the fur- 
 niture from the office, I took down the bundle and blew 
 from the top the liberal coat of dust that had accumulated 
 thereon. Immediately underneath the string was a slip 
 bearing this endorsement, in his hand: "When you can't 
 find it anywhere else, look in this." n 
 
 How Lincoln appeared and acted in the law office has 
 been graphically and, I must confess, truthfully told by a 
 gentleman now in New York, who was for several years 
 a student in our office. I beg to quote a few lines from 
 him: "My brother met Mr. Lincoln in Ottawa, 111., 12 one 
 day, and said to him : 'I have a brother who I would very 
 much like to have enter your office as a student.' 'All 
 right!' was his reply; 'send him down and we will take a 
 look at him.' I was then studying law at Grand Rapids, 
 Mich., and on hearing from my brother I immediately 
 packed up and started for Springfield. I arrived there on 
 Saturday night. On Sunday Mr. Lincoln was pointed 
 out to me. I well remember this first sight of him. He 
 
 n Ibid. 
 
 12 John H. Littlefield, Brooklyn Eagle, October 16, 1887. 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 255 
 
 was striding along, holding little Tad, then about six years 
 old, by the hand, who could with the greatest difficulty 
 keep up with his father. In the morning I applied at the 
 office of Lincoln and Herndon for admission as a stu- 
 dent. The office was on the second floor of a brick build- 
 ing on the public square, opposite the court-house. You 
 went up one flight of stairs and then passed along a hall- 
 way to the rear office, which was a medium sized room. 
 There was one long table in the center of the room, and 
 a shorter one running in the opposite direction, forming 
 a T, and both were covered with green baize. There were 
 two windows which looked into the back yard. In one 
 corner was an old-fashioned secretary with pigeon-holes 
 and a drawer, and here Mr. Lincoln and his partner kept 
 their law papers. There was also a book-case containing 
 about 200 volumes of law as well as miscellaneous books. 
 The morning I entered the office Mr. Lincoln and his 
 partner, Mr. Herndon, were both present. Mr. Lincoln 
 addressed his partner thus : 'Billy, this is the young man 
 of whom I spoke to you. Whatever arrangement you make 
 with him will be satisfactory to me.' Then, turning to 
 me, he said, T hope you will not become so enthusiastic in 
 your studies of Blackstone and Kent as did two young 
 men whom we had here. Do you see that spot over there ?' 
 pointing to a large ink stain on the wall. 'Well, one of 
 these young men got so enthusiastic in his pursuit of legal 
 lore that he fired an inkstand at the other one's head, 
 and that is the mark he made.' I immediately began to 
 clean up about the office a little. Mr. Lincoln had been 
 in Congress and had the usual amount of seeds to dis- 
 tribute to the farmers. These were sent out with Free 
 Soil and Republican documents. In my efforts to clean 
 up, I found that some of the seeds had sprouted in the 
 dirt that had collected in the office. Judge Logan and 
 Milton Hay occupied the front offices on the same floor 
 with Lincoln and Herndon, and one day Mr. Hay came 
 in and said with apparent astonishment : 'What's happened 
 here ?' 'Oh, nothing/ replied Lincoln, pointing to me, 'only 
 this young man has been cleaning up a little/ One of 
 
256 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 Lincoln's striking characteristics was his simplicity, and 
 nowhere was this trait more strikingly exhibited than in 
 his willingness to receive instruction from anybody and 
 everybody. One day he came into the office and addressing 
 his partner, said: 'Billy, what's the meaning of antithesis?' 
 Mr. Herndon gave him the definition of the word, and 
 I said : 'Mr. Lincoln, if you will allow me, I will give you 
 an example.' 'All right, John, go ahead,' said Mr. Lincoln 
 in his hearty manner. 'Phillips says, in his essay on 
 Napoleon, "A pretended patriot, he impoverished the coun- 
 try ; a professed Catholic, he imprisoned the Pope," ' 
 etc. Mr. Lincoln thanked me and seemed very much 
 pleased. Returning from off the circuit once he said to 
 Mr. Herndon: 'Billy, I heard a good story while I was 
 
 up in the country. Judge D was complimenting the 
 
 landlord on the excellence of his beef. "I am surprised," 
 he said, "that you have such good beef. You must have 
 to kill a whole critter when you want any." "Yes," said 
 the landlord, "we never kill less than a whole critter." ■ 
 
 "Lincoln's favorite position when unraveling some 
 knotty law point was to stretch both of his legs at full 
 length upon a chair in front of him. In this position, with 
 books on the table near by and in his lap, he worked up 
 his case. No matter how deeply interested in his work, if 
 any one came in he had something humorous and pleasant 
 to say, and usually wound up by telling a joke or an anec- 
 dote. I have heard him relate the same story three times 
 within as many hours to persons who came in at different 
 periods, and every time he laughed as heartily and enjoyed 
 it as if it were a new story. His humor was infectious. 
 I had to laugh because I thought it funny that Mr. Lincoln 
 enjoyed a story so repeatedly told. 
 
 "There was no order in the office at all. The firm of 
 Lincoln and Herndon kept no books. They divided their 
 fees without taking any receipts or making any entries on 
 books. One day Mr. Lincoln received $5,000 as a fee in 
 a railroad case. He came in and said; 'Well, Billy,' ad- 
 dressing his partner, Mr. Herndon, 'here is our fee; sit 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 257 
 
 down and let me divide/ He counted out $2,500 to his 
 partner, and gave it to him with as much nonchalance as 
 he would have given a few cents for a paper. Cupidity 
 had no abiding place in his nature. 
 
 "I took a good deal of pains in getting up a speech which 
 I wanted to deliver during a political campaign. I told Mr. 
 Lincoln that I would like to read it to him. He sat down in 
 one chair, put his feet into another one, and said : 'John, 
 you can fire away with that speech; I guess I can stand it.' 
 I unrolled the manuscript, and proceeded with some trep- 
 idation. 'That's a good point, John,' he would say, at 
 certain places, and at others : 'That's good — very good 
 indeed,' until I felt very much elated over my effort. I 
 delivered the speech over fifty times during the campaign. 
 Elmer E. Ellsworth, afterwards colonel of the famous 
 Zouaves, who was killed in Alexandria, early in the war, 
 was nominally a student in Lincoln's office. His head 
 was so full of military matters, however, that he thought 
 little of law. Of Ellsworth, Lincoln said: 'That young 
 man has a real genius for war !' " 
 
 During the six years following his retirement from Con- 
 gress, Lincoln, realizing in a marked degree his want of 
 literary knowledge, extended somewhat his research in that 
 direction. He was naturally indisposed to undertake any- 
 thing that savored of exertion, but his brief public career 
 had exposed the limited area of his literary attainments. 
 Along with his Euclid therefore he carried a well-worn 
 copy of Shakespeare, in which he read no little in his leis- 
 ure moments. "In travelling on the circuit," relates one of 
 his associates at the bar (Lawrence Weldon), "he was in 
 the habit of rising earlier than his brothers of the bar. On 
 such occasions he was wont to sit by the fire, having un- 
 covered the coals, and muse, and ponder, and soliloquize, 
 inspired, no doubt, by that strange psychological influence 
 which is so poetically described by Poe in 'The Raven.' 
 On one of these occasions, at the town of Lincoln, sitting 
 in the position described, he quoted aloud and at length 
 the poem called 'Immortality.' When he had finished he 
 
258 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 was questioned as to the authorship and where it could 
 be found. He had forgotten the author, but said that to 
 him it sounded as much like true poetry as anything he 
 had ever heard. He was particularly pleased with the last 
 two stanzas/' 
 
 Beyond a limited acquaintance with Shakespeare, Byron, 
 and Burns, Mr. Lincoln, comparatively speaking, had no 
 knowledge of literature. He was familiar with the Bible, 
 and now and then evinced a fancy for some poem or short 
 sketch to which his attention was called by some one else, 
 or which he happened to run across in his cursory reading 
 of books or newspapers. He never in his life sat down and 
 read a book through, and yet he could readily quote any 
 number of passages from the few volumes whose pages he 
 had hastily scanned. In addition to his well-known love 
 for the poem "Immortality" or "Why should the Spirit of 
 Mortal be Proud," he always had a great fondness for 
 Oliver Wendell Holmes' "Last Leaf," the fourth stanza 
 of which, beginning with the verse, "The mossy marbles 
 rest," I have often heard him repeat. He once told me of 
 a song a young lady had sung in his hearing at a time 
 when he was laboring under some dejection of spirits. 
 The lines struck his fancy, and although he did not know 
 the singer — having heard her from the sidewalk as he 
 passed her house — he sent her a request to write the lines 
 out for him. Within a day or two he came into the office, 
 carrying in his hand a delicately perfumed envelope which 
 bore the address, "Mr. Lincoln — Present," in an unmis- 
 takable female hand. In it, written on gilt-edged paper, 
 were the lines of the song. The plaintive strain of the 
 piece and its melancholy sentiment struck a responsive 
 chord in a heart already filled with gloom and sorrow. 
 Though ill-adapted to dissipate one's depression, something 
 about it charmed Lincoln, and he read and re-read it with 
 increasing relish. I had forgotten the circumstance until 
 recently, when, in going over some old papers and letters 
 turned over to me by Mr. Lincoln, I ran across the manu- 
 script, and the incident was brought vividly to my mind. 
 The envelope, still retaining a faint reminder of the per- 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 259 
 
 fumed scent given it thirty years before, bore the laconic 
 endorsement, ''Poem — I like this," in the handwriting of 
 Mr. Lincoln. Unfortunately no name accompanied the 
 manuscript, and unless the lady on seeing this chooses to 
 make herself known, we shall probably not learn who the 
 singer was. The composition is headed, "The Inquiry." 
 I leave it to my musical friends to render it into song. Fol- 
 lowing are the lines: 
 
 "Tell me, ye winged winds 
 That round my pathway roar, 
 Do ye not know some spot 
 Where mortals weep no more? 
 Some lone and pleasant vale 
 Some valley in the West, 
 Where, free from toil and pain, 
 The weary soul may rest ? 
 The loud wind dwindled to a whisper low, 
 And sighed for pity as it answered, No. 
 
 'Tell me, thou mighty deep, 
 Whose billows round me play, 
 Knows't thou some favored spot, 
 Some island far away, 
 Where weary man may find 
 The bliss for which he sighs; 
 Where sorrow never lives 
 And friendship never dies? 
 The loud waves rolling in perpetual flow 
 Stopped for awhile and sighed to answer, No. 
 
 "And thou, serenest moon, 
 That with such holy face 
 Dost look upon the earth 
 Asleep in Night's embrace — 
 Tell me, in all thy round 
 Hast thou not seen some spot 
 Where miserable man 
 Might find a happier lot? 
 Behind a cloud the moon withdrew in woe, 
 And a voice sweet but sad responded, No. 
 
 "Tell me, my secret soul, 
 Oh, tell me, Hope and Faith, 
 
260 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 Is there no resting-place 
 
 From sorrow, sin, and death ? 
 
 Is there no happy spot 
 
 Where mortals may be blessed, 
 
 Where grief may find a balm 
 
 And weariness a rest? 
 
 Faith, Hope, and Love, best boon to mortals given, 
 
 Waved their bright wings and whispered, Yes, in Heaven." 
 
 Persons familiar with literature will recognize this as a 
 poem written by Charles Mackay, an English writer who 
 represented a London newspaper in the United States dur- 
 ing the Rebellion as its war correspondent. It was set to 
 music as a chant, and as such was frequently rendered in 
 public by the famous Hutchinson family of singers. I 
 doubt if Mr. Lincoln ever knew who wrote it. 
 
 Judge S. H. Treat, recently deceased, thus describes 
 Lincoln's first appearance in the Supreme Court of Illi- 
 nois. "A case being called for hearing, Mr. Lincoln stated 
 that he appeared for the appellant and was ready to pro- 
 ceed with the argument. He then said : 'This is the first 
 case I have ever had in this court, and I have therefore 
 examined it with great care. As the Court will perceive 
 by looking at the abstract of the record, the only question 
 in the case is one of authority. I have not been able to find 
 any authority to sustain my side of the case, but I have 
 found several cases directly in point on the other side. I 
 will now give these authorities to the Court, and then sub- 
 mit the case." 1S 
 
 A lawyer in Beardstown (J. Henry Shaw) relates this : 
 "Lincoln came into my office one day with the remark : 'I 
 see you've been suing some of my clients, and I've come 
 down to see about it.' He had reference to a suit I 
 
 13 John T. Richards (Abraham Lincoln: The Lawyer-States- 
 man, pp. 56-58) shows that this episode could not have occurred in 
 connection with Lincoln's first case before the Supreme Court, 
 nor in connection with his first case before the court after Treat's 
 appointment as a Justice. In view of this fact, and because of 
 its general appearance of improbability, he describes it as a myth, 
 a characterization which seems sound. 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 26l 
 
 had brought to enforce the specific performance of a con- 
 tract. I explained the case to him, and showed my proofs. 
 He seemed surprised that I should deal so frankly with 
 him, and said he would be as frank with me; that my 
 client was justly entitled to a decree, and he should so 
 represent it to the court ; and that it was against his prin- 
 ciples to contest a clear matter of right. So my client got 
 a deed for a farm which, had another lawyer been in Mr. 
 Lincoln's place, would have been consumed by the costs 
 of litigation for years, with the result probably the same 
 in the end." A young man once wrote to Lincoln, inquir- 
 ing for the best mode of obtaining a thorough knowledge 
 of the law. "The mode is very simple/' he responded, 
 "though laborious and tedious. It is only to get books and 
 read and study them carefully. Begin with Blackstone's 
 Commentaries, and after reading carefully through, say 
 twice, take up Chitty's Pleadings, Greenleaf's Evidence, 
 and Story's Equity in succession. Work, work, work, is 
 the main thing." 
 
 Lincoln never believed in suing for a fee. If a client 
 would not pay on request he never sought to enforce 
 collection. 14 I remember once a man who had been in- 
 dicted for forgery or fraud employed us to defend him. 
 The illness of the prosecuting attorney caused some delay 
 in the case, and our client, becoming dissatisfied at our 
 conduct of the case, hired some one else, who superseded 
 us most effectually. The defendant declining to pay us 
 the fee demanded, on the ground that we had not repre- 
 sented him at the trial of the cause, I brought suit against 
 him in Lincoln's absence and obtained judgment for our 
 fee. After Lincoln's return from the circuit the fellow 
 hunted him up and by means of a carefully constructed 
 tale prevailed on him to release the judgment without re- 
 ceiving a cent of pay. The man's unkind treatment of us 
 
 14 Lincoln sued for fees at least six different times. In view 
 of the fact, however, that only one suit was brought in the name 
 of Lincoln & Herndon, Herndon's contrary statement is not sur- 
 prising. See William H. Townsend, Lincoln the Litigant. 
 
262 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 deserved no such mark of generosity from Lincoln, and yet 
 he could not resist the appeal of any one in poverty and 
 want. He could never turn from a woman in tears. I 
 have heard Lincoln say he thanked God that he was not 
 born a woman, because he could not refuse any request 
 if it was not apparently dishonest. 15 It was no surprise to 
 me or any of his intimate friends that so many designing 
 women with the conventional widow's weeds and easy- 
 flowing tears overcame him in Washington. It was diffi- 
 cult for him to detect an impostor, and hence it is not to be 
 marveled at that he cautioned his secretaries : "Keep them 
 away — I cannot stand it." 
 
 On many questions I used to grow somewhat enthusi- 
 astic, adopting sometimes a lofty metaphor by way of em- 
 bellishment. Lincoln once warned me : "Billy, don't shoot 
 too high — aim lower and the common people will under- 
 stand you. They are the ones you want to reach — at least 
 they are the ones you ought to reach. The educated and 
 refined people will understand you any way. If you aim 
 too high your ideas will go over the heads of the masses, 
 and only hit those who need no hitting." While it is true 
 that from his peculiar construction Lincoln dwelt entirely 
 in the head and in the land of thought, and while he was 
 physically a lazy man, yet he was intellectually energetic; 
 he was not only energetic, but industrious; not only in- 
 dustrious, but tireless ; not only tireless, but indefatigable. 
 Therefore if in debate with him a man stood on a question- 
 able foundation he might well watch whereon he stood. 
 Lincoln could look a long distance ahead and calculate the 
 triumph of right. With him justice and truth were para- 
 mount. If to him a thing seemed untrue he could not in his 
 nature simulate truth. His retention by a man to defend 
 a lawsuit did not prevent him from throwing it up in its 
 most critical stage if he believed he was espousing an un- 
 just cause. This extreme conscientiousness and disregard 
 of the alleged sacredness of the professional cloak robbed 
 him of much so-called success at the bar. He once wrote 
 
 15 This sentence was a footnote in the original edition. 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 263 
 
 to one of our clients : "I do not think there is the least use 
 of doing anything more with your lawsuit. I not only do 
 not think you are sure to gain it, but I do think you are 
 sure to lose it. Therefore the sooner it ends the better." 
 Messrs. Stuart and Edwards once brought a suit against a 
 client of ours which involved the title to considerable prop- 
 erty. At that time we had only two or three terms of 
 court, and the docket was somewhat crowded. The plain- 
 tiff's attorneys were pressing us for a trial, and we were 
 equally as anxious to ward it off. What we wanted were 
 time and a continuance to the next term. We dared not 
 make an affidavit for continuance, founded on facts, be- 
 cause no such pertinent and material facts as the law 
 contemplated existed. Our case for the time seemed hope- 
 less. One morning, however, I accidentally overheard a 
 remark from Stuart indicating his fear lest a certain fact 
 should happen to come into our possession. I felt some 
 relief, and at once drew up a fictitious plea, averring as best 
 I could the substance of the doubts I knew existed in 
 Stuart's mind. The plea was as skilfully drawn as I knew 
 how, and was framed as if we had the evidence to sustain 
 it. The whole thing was a sham, but so constructed as to 
 work the desired continuance, because I knew that Stuart 
 and Edwards believed the facts were as I pleaded them. 
 This was done in the absence and without the knowledge 
 of Lincoln. The plea could not be demurred to, and the 
 opposing counsel dared not take issue on it. It perplexed 
 them sorely. At length, before further steps were taken, 
 Lincoln came into court. He looked carefully over all the 
 papers in the case, as was his custom, and seeing my in- 
 genious subterfuge, asked, "Is this seventh plea a good 
 one?" Proud of the exhibition of my skill, I answered 
 that it was. "But," he inquired, incredulously, "is it 
 founded on fact?" I was obliged to respond in the nega- 
 tive, at the same time following up my answer with an 
 explanation of what I had overheard Stuart intimate, and 
 of how these alleged facts could be called facts if a certain 
 construction were put upon them. I insisted that our posi- 
 
264 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 tion was justifiable, and that our client must have time or 
 be ruined. I could see at once it failed to strike Lincoln as 
 just right. He scratched his head thoughtfully and asked, 
 "Hadn't we better withdraw that plea? You know it's a 
 sham, and a sham is very often but another name for a lie. 
 Don't let it go on record. The cursed thing may come 
 staring us in the face long after this suit has been for- 
 gotten." The plea was withdrawn. By some agency — 
 not our own — the case was continued and our client's in- 
 terests were saved. I only relate this incident to illustrate 
 Lincoln's far-seeing capacity ; it serves to show how over- 
 cautious he seemed to be with regard to how his record 
 might look in the future. I venture the assertion that he 
 was the only member of the bar in Springfield who would 
 have taken such a conscientious view of the matter. 
 
 One phase of Lincoln's character, almost lost sight of in 
 the commonly accepted belief in his humility and kindly 
 feeling under all circumstances, was his righteous indigna- 
 tion when aroused. In such cases he was the most fearless 
 man I ever knew. I remember a murder case in which we 
 appeared for the defense, and during the trial of which the 
 judge — a man of ability far inferior to Lincoln's — kept 
 ruling against us. 16 Finally, a very material question, in 
 fact one around which the entire case seemed to revolve, 
 came up, and again the Court ruled adversely. The prose- 
 cution was jubilant, and Lincoln, seeing defeat certain un- 
 less he recovered his ground, grew very despondent. The 
 notion crept into his head that the Court's rulings, which 
 were absurd and almost spiteful, were aimed at him, and 
 this angered him beyond reason. He told me of his feel- 
 ings at dinner, and said : "I have determined to crowd the 
 Court to the wall and regain my position before night." 
 From that time forward it was interesting to watch him. 
 
 16 The case was the State vs. P. Q. Harrison, tried in the Sanga- 
 mon Circuit Court at the fall term, 1859. Since Sangamon 
 County had been cut off from the Eighth Circuit in 1857 the 
 Judge was E. J. Rice — not Lincoln's friend David Davis. Lincoln 
 & Herndon, Stephen T. Logan and Shelby M. Cullom were 
 the defendant's attorneys. The jury brought in a verdict acquit- 
 ting the prisoner. 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 265 
 
 At the reassembling of court he arose to read a few author- 
 ities in support of his position. In his comments he kept 
 within the bounds of propriety just far enough to avoid 
 a reprimand for contempt of court. He characterized the 
 continued rulings against him as not only unjust but fool- 
 ish; and, figuratively speaking, he pealed the Court from 
 head to foot. I shall never forget the scene. Lincoln had 
 the crowd, a portion of the bar, and the jury with him. 
 He knew that fact, and it, together with the belief that 
 injustice had been done him, nerved him to a feeling of 
 desperation. He was wrought up to the point of mad- 
 ness. When a man of large heart and head is wrought 
 up and mad, as the old adage runs, "he's mad all over." 
 Lincoln had studied up the points involved, but knowing 
 full well the calibre of the judge, relied mostly on the 
 moral effect of his personal bearing and influence. He was 
 alternately furious and eloquent, pursuing the Court with 
 broad facts and pointed inquiries in marked and rapid 
 succession. I remember he made use of this homely inci- 
 dent in illustration of some point : "In early days a party 
 of men went out hunting for a wild boar. But the game 
 came upon them unawares, and scampering away they all 
 climbed the trees save one, who, seizing the animal by the 
 ears, undertook to hold him, but despairing of success 
 cried out to his companions in the trees, Tor God's sake, 
 boys, come down and help me let go.' " The prosecution 
 endeavored to break him down or even "head him off," 
 but all to no purpose. His masterly arraignment of law 
 and facts had so effectually badgered the judge that, 
 strange as it may seem, he pretended to see the error in his 
 former position, and finally reversed his decision in Lin- 
 coln's favor. The latter saw his triumph, and surveyed 
 a situation of which he was the master. His client was 
 acquitted, and he had swept the field. 
 
 In the case of Parker vs. Hoyt, tried in the United States 
 Court in Chicago, Lincoln was one of the counsel for the 
 defendant. The suit was on the merits of an infringement 
 of a patent water wheel. The trial lasted several days 
 and Lincoln manifested great interest in the case. In his 
 
266 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 earlier days he had run, or aided in running, a saw-mill, 
 and explained in his argument the action of the water on 
 the wheel in a manner so clear and intelligible that the jury 
 were enabled to comprehend the points and line of defense 
 without the least difficulty. It was evident he had carried 
 the jury with him in a most masterly argument, the force 
 of which could not be broken by the reply of the opposing 
 counsel. After the jury retired he became very anxious 
 and uneasy. The jury were in another building, the win- 
 dows of which opened on the street, and had been out 
 for some two hours. "In passing along the street, one of 
 the jurors on whom we very much relied," relates Lin- 
 coln's associate in the case (Grant Goodrich), "he being a 
 very intelligent man and firm in his convictions, held up to 
 him one finger. Mr. Lincoln became very much excited, 
 fearing it indicated that eleven of the jury were against 
 him. He knew if this man was for him he would never 
 yield his opinion. He added, if he was like a juryman he 
 had in Tazewell County, the defendant was safe. He was 
 there employed, he said, to prosecute a suit for divorce. 
 His client was a pretty, refined, and interesting little wo- 
 man in court. The defendant, her husband, was a gross, 
 morose, querulous, fault-finding, and uncomfortable man, 
 and entirely unfitted for the husband of such a woman; 
 but although he was able to prove the use of very offen- 
 sive and vulgar epithets applied by the husband to his 
 wife, and all sorts of annoyances, yet there were no such 
 acts of personal violence as were required by the statute 
 to justify a divorce. Lincoln did the best he could and 
 appealed to the jury to have compassion on the woman, 
 and not to bind her to such a man and such a life as 
 awaited her if required to live longer with him. The jury 
 took about the same view of it in their deliberations. They 
 desired to find for his fair client, but could discover no 
 evidence which would really justify a verdict for her. At 
 last they drew up a verdict for the defendant, and all 
 signed but one fellow, who on being approached with the 
 verdict, said, coolly: 'Gentlemen, I am going to lie down 
 to sleep, and when you get ready to give a verdict for that 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 267 
 
 little woman, then wake me and not until then ; for before 
 I will give a verdict against her I will lie here till I rot 
 and the pismires carry me out through the key-hole/ 
 'Now/ observed Lincoln, 'if that juryman will stick like 
 the man in Tazewell County we are safe/ Strange to 
 relate, the jury did come in, and with a verdict for the 
 defendant. Lincoln always regarded this as one of the 
 gratifying triumphs of his professional life/' 
 
CHAPTER ELEVEN 
 
 A LAW OFFICE IS A DULL, DRY PLACE SO FAR AS PLEASUR- 
 
 able or interesting incidents are concerned. If one is in 
 search of stories of fraud, deceit, cruelty, broken promises, 
 blasted homes, there is no better place to learn them than 
 a law office. But to the majority of persons these painful 
 recitals are anything but attractive, and it is well perhaps 
 that it should be so. In the office, as in the court room, 
 Lincoln, when discussing any point, was never arbitrary 
 or insinuating. He was deferential, cool, patient, and 
 respectful. When he reached the office, about nine o'clock 
 in the morning, the first thing he did was to pick up a 
 newspaper, spread himself out on an old sofa, one leg on 
 a chair, and read aloud, much to my discomfort. Singu- 
 larly enough Lincoln never read any other way but aloud. 
 This habit used to annoy me almost beyond the point of 
 endurance. I once asked him why he did so. This was 
 his explanation: "When I read aloud two senses catch 
 the idea : first, I see what I read ; second, I hear it, and 
 therefore I can remember it better." He never studied 
 law books unless a case was on hand for consideration — 
 never followed up the decisions of the supreme courts, 
 as other lawyers did. It seemed as if he depended for 
 his effectiveness in managing a law suit entirely on the 
 stimulus and inspiration of the final hour. He paid but 
 little attention to the fees and money matters of the firm — 
 usually leaving all such to me. He never entered an item 
 in the account book. If any one paid money to him which 
 belonged to the firm, on arriving at the office he divided 
 it with me. If I was not there, he would wrap up my 
 share in a piece of paper and place it in my drawer — 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 269 
 
 marking it with a pencil, "Case of Roe vs. Doe. — Hern- 
 don's half." 
 
 On many topics he was not a good conversationalist, 
 because he felt that he was not learned enough. Neither 
 was he a good listener. Putting it a little strongly, he 
 was often not even polite. If present with others, or par- 
 ticipating in a conversation, he was rather abrupt, and in 
 his anxiety to say something apt or to illustrate the sub- 
 ject under discussion, would burst in with a story. In our 
 office I have known him to consume the whole forenoon 
 relating stories. If a man came to see him for the pur- 
 pose of finding out something, which he did not care to 
 let him know and at the same time did not want to refuse 
 him, he was very adroit. In such cases Lincoln would 
 do most of the talking, swinging around what he sus- 
 pected was the vital point, but never nearing it, interlarding 
 his answers with a seemingly endless supply of stories 
 and jokes. The interview being both interesting and 
 pleasant, the man would depart in good humor, believing 
 he had accomplished his mission. After he had walked 
 away a few squares and had cooled off, the question would 
 come up, "Well, what did I find out?" Blowing away 
 the froth of Lincoln's humorous narratives he would find 
 nothing substantial left. 
 
 "As he entered the trial," relates one of his colleagues 
 at the bar (Leonard Swett), "where most lawyers would 
 object he would say he 'reckoned' it would be fair to let 
 this in, or that ; and sometimes, when his adversary could 
 not quite prove what Lincoln knew to be the truth, he 
 'reckoned' it would be fair to admit the truth to be so-and- 
 so. When he did object to the Court, and when he heard 
 his objections answered, he would often say, 'Well, I 
 reckon I must be wrong.' Now, about the time he had 
 practiced this three-fourths through the case, if his ad- 
 versary didn't understand him, he would wake up in a few 
 minutes learning that he had feared the Greeks too late 
 and find himself beaten. He was wise as a serpent in the 
 trial of a cause, but I have had too many scars from his 
 blows to certify that he was harmless as a dove. When 
 
2/0 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 the whole thing was unraveled, the adversary would begin 
 to see that what he was so blandly giving away was simply 
 what he couldn't get and keep. By giving away six points 
 and carrying the seventh he carried his case, and the whole 
 case hanging on the seventh, he traded away everything 
 which would give him the least aid in carrying that. Any 
 man who took Lincoln for a simple-minded man would 
 very soon wake up with his back in a ditch/ ' 
 
 Lincoln's restless ambition found its gratification only 
 in the field of politics. He used the law merely as a 
 stepping-stone to what he considered a more attractive 
 condition in the political world. In the allurements held 
 out by the latter he seemed to be happy. Nothing in Lin- 
 coln's life has provoked more discussion than the question 
 of his ability as a lawyer. I feel warranted in saying that 
 he was at the same time a very great and a very insig- 
 nificant lawyer. Judge David Davis, in his eulogy on 
 Lincoln at Indianapolis, delivered at the meeting of the 
 bar there in May, 1865, said this: "In all the elements that 
 constituted a lawyer he had few equals. He was great 
 at nisi prius and before an appellate tribunal. He seized 
 the strong points of a cause and presented them with clear- 
 ness and great compactness. His mind was logical and 
 direct, and he did not indulge in extraneous discussion. 
 Generalities and platitudes had no charm for him. An 
 unfailing vein of humor never deserted him, and he was 
 able to claim the attention of court and jury when the 
 cause was most uninteresting by the appropriateness of his 
 anecdotes. His power of comparison was large, and he 
 rarely failed in a legal discussion to use that mode of rea- 
 soning. The framework of his mental and moral being 
 was honesty, and a wrong case was poorly defended by 
 him. The ability which some eminent lawyers possess of 
 explaining away the bad points of a cause by ingenious 
 sophistry was denied him. In order to bring into full ac- 
 tivity his great powers it was necessary that he should be 
 convinced of the right and justice of the matter which he 
 advocated. When so convinced, whether the cause was 
 great or small he was usually successful. . . . He never 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 2/1 
 
 took advantage of a man's low character to prejudice the 
 jury. Mr. Lincoln thought his duty to his client extended 
 to what was honorable and high-minded, just and noble — 
 nothing further. Hence the meanest man at the bar al- 
 ways paid great deference and respect to him." 1 
 
 This statement of Judge Davis in general is correct, 
 but in some particulars is faulty. It was intended as a 
 eulogy on Lincoln, and as such would not admit of as many 
 limitations and modifications as if spoken under other 
 circumstances. In 1866 Judge Davis said in a statement 
 made to me in his home at Bloomington, which I still have, 
 "Mr. Lincoln had no managing faculty nor organizing 
 power; hence a child could conform to the simple and 
 technical rules, the means and the modes of getting at 
 justice better than he. The law has its own rules, and a 
 student could get at them or keep within them better than 
 Lincoln. Sometimes he was forced to study these if he 
 could not get the rubbish of a case removed. But all the 
 way through his lack of method and organizing ability 
 was clearly apparent." The idea that Mr. Lincoln was 
 a great lawyer in the higher courts and a good nisi prius 
 lawyer, and yet that a child or student could manage a 
 case in court better than he, seems strangely inconsistent, 
 but the facts of his life as a lawyer will reconcile this and 
 other apparent contradictions. 
 
 I was not only associated with Mr. Lincoln in Spring- 
 field, but was frequently on the circuit with him, but of 
 course not so much as Judge Davis, who held the court, 
 and whom Lincoln followed around on the circuit for at 
 least six months out of the year. I easily realized that 
 Lincoln was strikingly deficient in the technical rules of 
 the law. Although he was constantly reminding young 
 legal aspirants to study and "work, work," yet I doubt 
 if he ever read a single elementary law book through in 
 his life. In fact, I may truthfully say, I never knew him 
 to read through a law book of any kind. Practically, he 
 
 1 The last three sentences of this paragraph, which Herndon 
 originally used as a footnote, are from a statement which he took 
 from Davis Sept. 10, 1866. 
 
272 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 knew nothing of the rules of evidence, of pleading, or prac- 
 tice, as laid down in the text-books, and seemed to care 
 nothing about them. He had a keen sense of justice, 
 and struggled for it, throwing aside forms, methods, and 
 rules, until it appeared pure as a ray of light flashing 
 through a fog-bank. He was not a general reader in any 
 field of knowledge, but when he had occasion to learn or 
 investigate any subject he was thorough and indefatigable 
 in his search. He not only went to the root of the ques- 
 tion, but dug up the root, and separated and analyzed 
 every fibre of it. He was in every respect a case lawyer, 
 never cramming himself on any question till he had a case 
 in which the question was involved. He thought slowly 
 and acted slowly ; he must needs have time to analyze all 
 the facts in a case and wind them into a connected story. 
 I have seen him lose cases of the plainest justice, which 
 the most inexperienced member of the bar would have 
 gained without effort. Two things were essential to his 
 success in managing a case. One was time; the other a 
 feeling of confidence in the justice of the cause he rep- 
 resented. He used to say, "If I can free this case from 
 technicalities and get it properly swung to the jury, I'll 
 win it." But if either of these essentials were lacking, 
 he was the weakest man at the bar. He was greatest in 
 my opinion as a lawyer in the Supreme Court of Illinois. 
 There the cases were never hurried. The attorneys gen- 
 erally prepared their cases in the form of briefs, and the 
 movements of the court and counsel were so slow that no 
 one need be caught by surprise. 2 I was with Lincoln once 
 and listened to an oral argument by him in which he re- 
 hearsed an extended history of the law. It was a care- 
 fully prepared and masterly discourse, but, as I thought, 
 
 2 Herndon's estimate of Lincoln as a lawyer has been challenged 
 by the authors of the two comprehensive studies of his legal 
 career : Frederick Trevor Hill (Lincoln the Lawyer) and John 
 T. Richards (Abraham Lincoln: The Lawyer Statesman) . Never- 
 theless, a study of the documentary material, in so far as it is 
 available, testifies to the correctness of his conclusion. See 
 Angle, "Abraham Lincoln: Circuit Lawyer," in Lincoln Cen- 
 tennial Association Papers for 1928. 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 273 
 
 entirely useless. After he was through and we were walk- 
 ing home I asked him why he went so far back in the his- 
 tory of the law. I presumed the court knew enough 
 history. "That's where you're mistaken/' was his instant 
 rejoinder. "I dared not trust the case on the presumption 
 that the court knows everything — in fact I argued it on 
 the presumption that the court didn't know anything," a 
 statement which, when one reviews the decisions of our ap- 
 pellate courts, is not so extravagant as one would at first 
 suppose. 
 
 I used to grow restless at Lincoln's slow movements 
 and speeches in court. "Speak with more vim," I would 
 frequently say, "and arouse the jury — talk faster and 
 keep them awake." In answer to such a suggestion he one 
 day made use of this illustration: "Give me your little 
 pen-knife, with its short blade, and hand me that old jack- 
 knife, lying on the table." Opening the blade of the pen- 
 knife he said: "You see, this blade at the point travels 
 rapidly, but only through a small portion of space till it 
 stops; while the long blade of the jack-knife moves no 
 faster but through a much greater space than the small 
 one. Just so with the long, labored movements of my 
 mind. I may not emit ideas as rapidly as others, because 
 I am compelled by nature to speak slowly, but when I do 
 throw off a thought it seems to me, though it comes with 
 some effort, it has force enough to cut its own way and 
 travel a greater distance." This was said to me when we 
 were alone in our office simply for illustration. It was 
 not said boastingly. 
 
 As a specimen of Lincoln's method of reasoning I in- 
 sert here the brief or notes of an argument used by him 
 in a lawsuit as late as 1858. I copy from the original. 
 
 "Legislation and adjudication must follow and conform to 
 the progress of society. 
 
 "The progress of society now begins to produce cases of 
 the transfer for debts of the entire property of railroad cor- 
 porations ; and to enable transferees to use and enjoy the 
 transferred property legislation and adjudication begin to be 
 necessary. 
 
274 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 "Shall this class of legislation just now beginning with us 
 be general or special ? 
 
 "Section Ten of our Constitution requires that it should be 
 general, if possible. (Read the Section.) 
 
 "Special legislation always trenches upon the judicial de- 
 partment ; and in so far violates Section Two of the Constitu- 
 tion. (Read it.) 
 
 "Just reasoning — policy — is in favor of general legislation — 
 else the legislature will be loaded down with the investigation 
 of smaller cases — a work which the courts ought to perform, 
 and can perform much more perfectly. How can the Legisla- 
 ture rightly decide the facts between P. & B. and S. C. & Co. 
 
 "It is said that under a general law, whenever a R. R. Co. 
 gets tired of its debts, it may transfer fraudulently to get rid 
 of them. So they may — so may individuals ; and which — 
 the Legislature or the courts — is best suited to try the question 
 of fraud in either case ? 
 
 "It is said, if a purchaser have acquired legal rights, let 
 him not be robbed of them, but if he needs legislation let him 
 submit to just terms to obtain it. 
 
 "Let him, say we, have general law in advance (guarded in 
 every possible way against fraud), so that, when he acquires 
 a legal right, he will have no occasion to wait for additional 
 legislation ; and if he has practiced fraud let the courts so de- 
 cide." 
 
 David Davis said this of Lincoln: "When in a lawsuit 
 he believed his client was oppressed, — as in the Wright 
 case, — he was hurtful in denunciation. When he at- 
 tacked meanness, fraud, or vice, he was powerful, merci- 
 less in his castigation." The Wright case referred to was 
 a suit brought by Lincoln and myself to compel a pension 
 agent to refund a portion of a fee which he had withheld 
 from the widow of a revolutionary soldier. The entire 
 pension was $400, of which sum the agent had retained 
 one-half. The pensioner, an old woman crippled and bent 
 with age, came hobbling into the office and told her story. 
 It stirred Lincoln up, and he walked over to the agent's 
 office and made a demand for a return of the money, but 
 without success. Then suit was brought. The day before 
 the trial I hunted up for Lincoln, at his request, a history 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 275 
 
 of the Revolutionary War, of which he read a good por- 
 tion. He told me to remain during the trial until I had 
 heard his address to the jury. "For," said he, "I am going 
 to skin Wright, and get that money back." The only wit- 
 ness we introduced was the old lady, who through her 
 tears told her story. In his speech to the jury, Lincoln 
 recounted the causes leading to the outbreak of the Revo- 
 lutionary struggle, and then drew a vivid picture of the 
 hardships of Valley Forge, describing with minuteness 
 the men, barefooted and with bleeding feet, creeping over 
 the ice. As he reached that point in his speech wherein 
 he narrated the hardened action of the defendant in fleecing 
 the old woman of her pension his eyes flashed, and throw- 
 ing aside his handkerchief, which he held in his right 
 hand, he fairly launched into him. His speech for the 
 next five or ten minutes justified the declaration of Davis, 
 that he was "hurtful in denunciation and merciless in 
 castigation." There was no rule of court to restrain him 
 in his argument, and I never, either on the stump or on 
 other occasions in court, saw him so wrought up. Be- 
 fore he closed, he drew an ideal picture of the plaintiff's 
 husband, the deceased soldier, parting with his wife at the 
 threshold of their home, and kissing their little babe in 
 the cradle, as he started for the war. "Time rolls by," he 
 said in conclusion; "the heroes of '76 have passed away 
 and are encamped on the other shore. The soldier has 
 gone to rest, and now, crippled, blind, and broken, his 
 widow comes to you and to me, gentlemen of the jury, to 
 right her wrongs. She was not always thus. She was 
 once a beautiful young woman. Her step was elastic, her 
 face fair, and her voice as sweet as any that rang in the 
 mountains of old Virginia. But now she is poor and de- 
 fenseless. Out here on the prairies of Illinois, many 
 hundreds of miles away from the scenes of her childhood, 
 she appeals to us, who enjoy the privileges achieved for us 
 by the patriots of the Revolution, for our sympathetic aid 
 and manly protection. All I ask is, shall we befriend her?" 
 The speech made the desired impression on the jury. Half 
 of them were in tears, while the defendant sat in the court 
 
276 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 room, drawn up and writhing under the fire of Lincoln's 
 fierce invective. The jury returned a verdict in our favor 
 for every cent we demanded. Lincoln was so much in- 
 terested in the old lady that he became her surety for 
 costs, paid her way home, and her hotel bill while she was 
 in Springfield. When the judgment was paid we remitted 
 the proceeds to her and made no charge for our services. 
 Lincoln's notes for the argument were unique : "No con- 
 tract. — Not professional services. — Unreasonable charge. 
 — Money retained by Deft not given by Pl'ff. — Revolu- 
 tionary War. — Describe Valley Forge privations. — Ice — 
 Soldier's bleeding feet. — Pl'ffs husband. — Soldier leaving 
 home for army. — Skin Deft. — Close." 
 
 It must not be inferred from this that Lincoln was in 
 the habit of slopping over. He never hunted up acts 
 of injustice, but if they came to him he was easily enlisted. 
 In 1855 he was attending court at the town of Clinton, 
 Illinois. Fifteen ladies from a neighboring village in the 
 county had been indicated for trespass. Their offense con- 
 sisted in sweeping down on one Tanner, the keeper of a 
 saloon in the village, and knocking in the heads of his 
 barrels. Lincoln was not employed in the case, but sat 
 watching the trial as it proceeded. In defending the ladies 
 their attorney seemed to evince a little want of tact, and this 
 prompted one of the former to invite Mr. Lincoln to add 
 a few words to the jury, if he thought he could aid their 
 cause. He was too gallant to refuse and, their attorney 
 having consented, he made use of the following argument : 
 "In this case I would change the order of indictment and 
 have it read The State vs. Mr. Whisky, instead of The 
 State vs. The Ladies; and touching these there are three 
 laws: The law of self-protection; the law of the land, or 
 statute law ; and the moral law, or law of God. First, the 
 law of self-protection is a law of necessity, as evinced by 
 our forefathers in casting the tea overboard and asserting 
 their right to the pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness. 
 In this case it is the only defense the ladies have, for 
 Tanner neither feared God nor regarded man. Second, the 
 law of the land, or statute law, and Tanner is recreant to 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 277 
 
 both. Third, the moral law, or law of God, and this is 
 probably a law for the violation of which the jury can 
 fix no punishment." Lincoln gave some of his own obser- 
 vations on the ruinous effects of whisky in society, and 
 demanded its early suppression. After he had concluded, 
 the Court, without awaiting the return of the jury, dis- 
 missed the ladies, saying : "Ladies, go home. I will require 
 no bond of you, and if any fine is ever wanted of you, we 
 will let you know." 3 
 
 After Lincoln's death a fellow-lawyer (Joseph Gillespie) 
 paid this tribute to him : "He was wonderfully kind, care- 
 ful, and just. He had an immense stock of common- 
 sense, and he had faith enough in it to trust it in every 
 emergency. Mr. Lincoln's love of justice and fair-play 
 was his predominating trait. I have often listened to him 
 when I thought he would certainly state his case out of 
 court. It was not in his nature to assume or attempt to 
 bolster up a false position. He would abandon his case 
 first. He did so in the case of Buckmaster for the use 
 of Dedham vs. Beemes and Arthur, in our Supreme Court, 
 in which I happened to be opposed to him. Another gen- 
 tleman, less fastidious, took Mr. Lincoln's place and gained 
 the case." 
 
 3 This case, The People vs. Elizabeth Shirtlefr", Emily Lewis 
 ct al. } was tried on May 19, 1854, at Clinton, Illinois. A con- 
 temporary newspaper report sets forth the facts as follows: "At 
 the recent term of the DeWitt circuit court, there was an in- 
 dictment found against nine ladies, from Marion, in said county, 
 for a riot. The circumstances are as follows : A man by the 
 name of Tanner, had recently moved in the town of Marion 
 and started a 'doggery,' and was selling liquor to the inhabitants, 
 much to the annoyance of the fair sex. The ladies called upon 
 Mr. T. and requested him to desist his traffic of liquor, but to 
 no avail. They then took the law in their own hands, and, in a 
 quiet and respectful manner, took the liquor and turned it out 
 upon the ground. At the trial, there were from one to two 
 hundred ladies present. Col. Gridley prosecuted for Mr. Campbell, 
 the latter being unable to attend to business. Messrs. Lincoln 
 and Stewart defended the fair daughters of Adam. The 
 jury found the perpetrators guilty and the court fined them in 
 the sum of two dollars. Huzzah, for the Marion ladies." De- 
 catur Gazette, clipped in Illinois State Register, May 27, 1854. 
 
2/8 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 "Early in 1858," says Joseph E. McDonald, "at Danville, 
 Illinois, I met Lincoln, Swett, and others who had returned 
 from court in an adjoining county, and were discussing 
 the various features of a murder trial in which Lincoln 
 had made a vigorous fight for the prosecution and Swett 
 had defended. The plea of the defense was insanity. On 
 inquiring the name of the defendant I was surprised to 
 learn that it was my old friend Isaac Wyant, formerly of 
 Indiana. I told them that I had been Wyant's counsel 
 frequently and had defended him from almost every charge 
 in the calendar of crimes ; and that he was a weak brother 
 and could be led into almost everything. At once Lincoln 
 began to manifest great interest in Wyant's history, and 
 had to be told all about him. The next day on the way to 
 the courthouse he told me he had been greatly troubled 
 over what I related about Wyant ; that his sleep had been 
 disturbed by the fear that he had been too bitter and un- 
 relenting in his prosecution of him. 'I acted/ he said, 'on 
 the theory that he was "possuming" insanity, and now I 
 fear I have been too severe and that the poor fellow may be 
 insane after all. If he cannot realize the wrong of his 
 crime, then I was wrong in aiding to punish him.' " * 
 
 A widow who owned a piece of valuable land employed 
 Lincoln and myself to examine the title to the property, 
 with the view of ascertaining whether certain alleged tax 
 liens were just or not. In tracing back the title we were 
 not satisfied with the description of the ground in one of 
 the deeds of conveyance. Lincoln, to settle the matter, 
 took his surveying instruments and surveyed the ground 
 himself. The result proved that Charles Matheny, a 
 former grantor, had sold the land at so much per acre, but 
 that in describing it he had made an error and conveyed 
 more land than he received pay for. This land descended 
 to our client, and Lincoln after a careful survey and cal- 
 culation, decided that she ought to pay to Matheny's heirs 
 the sum which he had shown was due them by reason of the 
 erroneous conveyance. To this she entered strenuous ob- 
 jections, but when assured that unless she consented to 
 
 4 Original footnote. 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 279 
 
 this act of plain justice we would drop the case, she finally, 
 though with great reluctance, consented. She paid the 
 required amount, and this we divided up into smaller sums 
 proportioned to the number of heirs. Lincoln himself dis- 
 tributed these to the heirs, obtaining a receipt from each 
 one. 
 
 [In the original edition Herndon printed the following 
 letter as a footnote, describing it, without comment, as an 
 undated manuscript written about 1866. 
 
 "Dear Herndon : 
 
 "One morning, not long before Lincoln's nomination — a 
 year perhaps — I was in your office and heard the following : 
 Mr. Lincoln, seated at the baize-covered table in the center 
 of the office, listened attentively to a man who talked earnestly 
 and in a low tone. After being thus engaged for some time 
 Lincoln at length broke in, and I shall never forget his 
 reply. 'Yes/ he said, 'we can doubtless gain your case for 
 you; we can set a whole neighborhood at loggerheads; we 
 can distress a widowed mother and her six fatherless children 
 and thereby get for you six hundred dollars to which you seem 
 to have a legal claim, but which rightfully belongs, it appears 
 to me, as much to the woman and her children as it does to 
 you. You must remember that some things legally right are 
 not morally right. We shall not take your case, but will 
 give you a little advice for which we will charge you nothing. 
 You seem to be a sprightly, energetic man; we would advise 
 you to try your hand at making six hundred dollars in some 
 other way/ 
 
 "Yours, 
 
 "Lord."] 
 
 While Mr. Lincoln was no financier and had no pro- 
 pensity to acquire property, — no avarice of the get, — yet 
 he had the capacity of retention, or the avarice of the 
 keep. He never speculated in lands or anything else. In 
 the days of land offices and "choice lots in a growing town" 
 he had many opportunities to make safe ventures promising 
 good returns, but he never availed himself of them. 5 His 
 
 5 Lincoln, nevertheless, owned more real estate than is generally 
 realized. In addition to the land he sold soon after removing 
 
280 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 brother lawyers were making good investments and lucky 
 turns, some of them, Davis, for example, were rapidly 
 becoming wealthy; but Lincoln cared nothing for specula- 
 tion ; in fact there was no venturesome spirit in him. His 
 habits were very simple. He was not fastidious as to 
 food or dress. His hat was brown, faded, and the nap 
 usually worn or rubbed off. He wore a short cloak and 
 sometimes a shawl. His coat and vest hung loosely on his 
 gaunt frame, and his trousers were invariably too short. 
 On the circuit he carried in one hand a faded green um- 
 brella, with "A. Lincoln" in large white cotton or muslin 
 letters sewed on the inside. The knob was gone from the 
 handle, and when closed a piece of cord was usually tied 
 around it in the middle to keep it from flying open. In the 
 other hand he carried a literal carpet-bag, in which were 
 stored the few papers to be used in court, and undercloth- 
 ing enough to last till his return to Springfield. He slept 
 in a long, coarse, yellow flannel shirt, which reached half- 
 way between his knees and ankles. It probably was not 
 made to fit his bony figure as completely as Beau Brum- 
 mel's shirt, and hence we can somewhat appreciate the 
 sensation of a young lawyer who, on seeing him thus 
 arrayed for the first time, observed afterwards that, "He 
 was the ungodliest figure I ever saw." 
 
 "He never complained of the food, bed, or lodgings. If 
 every other fellow grumbled at the bill-of-fare which 
 greeted us at many of the dingy taverns," says David 
 Davis, "Lincoln said nothing." He was once presiding as 
 judge in the absence of Davis, and the case before him 
 was an action brought by a merchant against the father of 
 a minor son for a suit of clothes sold to the son without 
 paternal authority. The real question was whether the 
 clothes were necessary, and suited to the condition of the 
 son's life. The father was a wealthy farmer ; the bill for 
 
 to Springfield (see p. 99 n.) he owned several Springfield town 
 lots, one in Lincoln and two in Bloomington for a number of 
 years, besides 120 acres in Iowa and a dower right in 80 acres 
 in Sangamon county which Mrs. Lincoln owned. Bulletins 16 and 
 17, The Abraham Lincoln Association. 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 28l 
 
 the clothing was twenty-eight dollars. I happened in court 
 just as Lincoln was rendering his decision. He ruled 
 against the plea of necessity. "I have rarely in my life," 
 said he, "worn a suit of clothes costing twenty-eight dol- 
 lars." 
 
 "Several of us lawyers," remarked one of his colleagues, 
 "in the eastern end of the circuit annoyed Lincoln once 
 while he was holding court for Davis by attempting to de- 
 fend against a note to which there were many makers. 
 We had no legal, but a good moral defense, but what we 
 wanted most of all was to stave it off till the next term of 
 court by one expedient or another. We bothered 'the 
 court' about it till late on Saturday, the day of adjourn- 
 ment. He adjourned for supper with nothing left but this 
 case to dispose of. After supper he heard our twaddle for 
 nearly an hour, and then made this odd entry: 'L. D. 
 Chaddon vs. J. D. Beasley et ah April term, 1856. Cham- 
 paign County Court. Plea in abatement by B. Z. Green, a 
 defendant not served, filed Saturday at 11 o'clock A. M., 
 April 24, 1856, stricken from the files by order of court. 
 Demurrer to declaration, if there ever was one, overruled. 
 Defendants who are served now, at 8 o'clock, P. M., of the 
 last day of the term, ask to plead to the merits, which is 
 denied by the court on the ground that the offer comes too 
 late, and therefore, as by nil dicet, judgment is rendered for 
 Pl'ff. Clerk assess damages. A. Lincoln, Judge pro 
 tern/ " The lawyer who reads this singular entry will 
 appreciate its oddity if no one else does. After making it 
 one of the lawyers, on recovering from his astonishment, 
 ventured to inquire, "Well, Lincoln, how can we get this 
 case up again?" Lincoln eyed him quizzically a moment, 
 and then answered, "You have all been so 'mighty smart 
 about this case you can find out how to take it up again 
 yourselves." 
 
 "During my first attendance at court in Menard County," 
 relates a lawyer who traveled the circuit with Lincoln, 
 "some thirty young men had been indicted for playing 
 cards, and Lincoln and I were employed in their defense. 
 The prosecuting attorney, in framing the indictments, al- 
 
282 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 ternately charged the defendants with playing a certain 
 game of cards called 'seven-up,' and in the next bill charged 
 them with playing cards at a certain game called f old 
 sledge.' Four defendants were indicted in each bill. The 
 prosecutor, being entirely unacquainted with games at 
 cards, did not know the fact that both 'seven-up' and 'old 
 sledge' were one and the same. Upon the trial on the 
 bills describing the game as 'seven-up' our witnesses would 
 swear that the game played was 'old sledge,' and vice versa 
 on the bills alleging the latter. The result was an acquittal 
 in every case under the instructions of the Court. The 
 prosecutor never found out the dodge until the trials were 
 over, and immense fun and rejoicing were indulged in at 
 the result." 6 
 
 The same gentleman who furnishes the incident concern- 
 ing Lincoln on the bench, and who was afterwards a trusted 
 friend of Mr. Lincoln, Henry C. Whitney, has described 
 most happily the delights of a life on the circuit. A bit of 
 it, referring to Lincoln, I apprehend, cannot be deemed 
 out of place here. "In October, 1854, Abraham Lin- 
 coln," he relates, "drove into our town (Urbana) to attend 
 court. He had the appearance of a rough, intelligent 
 farmer, and his rude, home-made buggy and raw-boned 
 horse enforced this belief. I had met him for the first 
 time in June of the same year. David Davis and Leonard 
 Swett had just preceded him. The next morning he started 
 North, on the Illinois Central Railroad, and as he went in 
 an old omnibus he played on a boy's harp all the way to 
 the depot. I used to attend the Danville court, and while 
 there, usually roomed with Lincoln and Davis. We stopped 
 at McCormick's hotel, an old-fashioned frame country 
 tavern. Jurors, counsel, prisoners, everybody ate at a long 
 table. The judge, Lincoln, and I had the ladies' parlor 
 fitted up with two beds. Lincoln, Swett, McWilliams, of 
 Bloomington, Voorhees, of Covington, Ind., O. L. Davis, 
 Drake, Ward Lamon, Lawrence, Beckwith, and O. F. 
 Harmon, of Danville, Whiteman, of Iroquois County, and 
 Chandler, of Williamsport, Ind., constituted the bar. Lin- 
 
 6 Original footnote. 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 283 
 
 coin, Davis, Swett, I, and others who came from the west- 
 ern part of the state would drive from Urbana. The 
 distance was thirty-six miles. We sang and exchanged 
 stories all the way. We had no hesitation in stopping at 
 a farmhouse and ordering them to kill and cook a chicken 
 for dinner. By dark we reached Danville. Lamon would 
 have whisky in his office for the drinking ones, and those 
 who indulged in petty gambling would get by themselves 
 and play till late in the night. Lincoln, Davis, and a few 
 local wits would spend the evening in Davis's room, talking 
 politics, wisdom, and fun. Lincoln and Swett were the 
 great lawyers, and Lincoln always wanted Swett in jury 
 cases. We who stopped at the hotel would all breakfast 
 together and frequently go out into the woods and hold 
 court. We were of more consequence than a court and bar 
 is now. The feelings were those of great fraternity in 
 the bar, and if we desired to restrict our circle it was no 
 trouble for Davis to freeze out any disagreeable persons. 
 Lincoln was fond of going all by himself to any little 
 show or concert. I have known him to slip away and 
 spend the entire evening at a little magic lantern show 
 intended for children. A travelling concert company, 
 calling themselves the 'Newhall Family,' were sure of 
 drawing Lincoln. One of their number, Mrs. Hillis, a 
 good singer, he used to tell us was the only woman who 
 ever seemed to exhibit any liking for him. I attended a 
 negro-minstrel show in Chicago, where we heard Dixie 
 sung. It was entirely new, and pleased him greatly. In 
 court he was irrepressible and apparently inexhaustible 
 in his fund of stories. Where in the world a man who had 
 travelled so little and struggled amid the restrictions of 
 such limited surroundings could gather up such apt and 
 unique yarns we never could guess. Davis appreciated 
 Lincoln's talent in this direction, and was always ready 
 to stop business to hear one of his stories. Lincoln was 
 very bashful when in the presence of ladies. I remember 
 once we were invited to take tea at a friend's house, and 
 while in the parlor I was called to the front gate to see a 
 client. When I returned, Lincoln, who had undertaken 
 
284 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 to entertain the ladies, was twisting and squirming in his 
 chair, and as bashful as a schoolboy. Everywhere, though 
 we met a hard crowd at every court, and though things 
 were free and easy, we were treated with great respect." 
 
 Probably the most important lawsuit Lincoln and I con- 
 ducted was one in which we defended the Illinois Central 
 Railroad in an action brought by McLean County, Illinois, 
 in August, 1853, to recover taxes alleged to be due the 
 county from the road. The Legislature had granted the 
 road immunity from taxation, and this was a case intended 
 to test the constitutionality of the law. The road sent a 
 retainer fee of $250. In the lower court the case was 
 decided in favor of the railroad. An appeal to the Su- 
 preme Court followed, and there it was argued twice, and 
 finally decided in our favor. This last decision was ren- 
 dered some time in 1855. Mr. Lincoln soon went to Chi- 
 cago and presented our bill for legal services. We only 
 asked for $2,000 more. The official to whom he was re- 
 ferred, — supposed to have been the superintendent George 
 B. McClellan who afterwards became the eminent general, 
 — looking at the bill expressed great surprise. "Why, sir/' 
 he exclaimed, "this is as much as Daniel Webster himself 
 would have charged. We cannot allow such a claim. " 
 Stung by the rebuff, Lincoln withdrew the bill, and started 
 for home. On the way he stopped at Bloomington. There 
 he met Grant Goodrich, Archibald Williams, Norman B. 
 Judd, O. H. Browning, and other attorneys, who, on learn- 
 ing of his modest charge for such valuable services ren- 
 dered the railroad, induced him to increase the demand to 
 $5,000, and to bring suit for that sum. This was done at 
 once. On the trial six lawyers certified that the bill was 
 reasonable, and judgment for that sum went by default. 
 The judgment was promptly paid. Lincoln gave me my 
 half, and much as we deprecated the avarice of great cor- 
 porations, we both thanked the Lord for letting the Illinois 
 Central Railroad fall into our hands. 7 
 
 7 Herndon's account of this litigation is at fault in its chronol- 
 ogy. The tax suit was first argued in the Supreme Court on Feb- 
 ruary 28, 1854, and again on January 16 and 17, 1856. On June 18, 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 285 
 
 In the summer of 1857 Lincoln was employed by one 
 Manny, of Chicago, to defend him in an action brought 
 by McCormick, 8 who was the inventor of the reaping 
 machine, for infringement of patent. Lincoln had been 
 recommended to Manny by E. B. Washburne, then a mem- 
 ber of Congress from northern Illinois. The case was to 
 be tried before Judge McLean at Cincinnati, in the Circuit 
 Court of the United States. The counsel for McCormick 
 was Reverdy Johnson. Edwin M. Stanton and George 
 Harding, of Philadelphia, were associated on the other 
 side with Lincoln. The latter came to Cincinnati a few 
 days before the argument took place, and stopped at the 
 house of a friend. "The case was one of great importance 
 pecuniarily," relates a lawyer in Cincinnati (W. M. Dick- 
 son), who was a member of the bar at the time, "and in 
 the law questions involved. Reverdy Johnson represented 
 the plaintiff. Mr. Lincoln had prepared himself with the 
 greatest care ; his ambition was up to speak in the case and 
 to measure swords with the renowned lawyer from Balti- 
 more. It was understood between his client and himself 
 before his coming that Mr. Harding, of Philadelphia, was 
 to be associated with him in the case, and was to make the 
 'mechanical argument/ After reaching Cincinnati, Mr. Lin- 
 coln was a little surprised and annoyed to learn that his 
 client had also associated with him Mr. Edwin M. Stanton, 
 of Pittsburgh, and a lawyer of our own bar, the reason 
 assigned being that the importance of the case required a 
 man of the experience and power of Mr. Stanton to meet 
 Mr. Johnson. The Cincinnati lawyer was appointed for 
 his 'local influence.' These reasons did not remove the 
 slight conveyed in the employment without consultation 
 with him of this additional counsel. He keenly felt it, 
 but acquiesced. The trial of the case came on ; the coun- 
 sel for defense met each morning for consultation. On one 
 
 1857, in the McLean Circuit Court, Lincoln obtained judgment for 
 his fee. On the same day the judgment was set aside and trial set 
 for June 23, when judgment was again entered in his favor. 
 
 8 McCormick vs. Manny, tried at Cincinnati in September, 
 1855. Lincoln was retained in the early summer of that same 
 year. 
 
286 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 of these occasions one of the counsel moved that only two 
 of them should speak in the case. This matter was also 
 acquiesced in. It had always been understood that Mr. 
 Harding was to speak to explain the mechanism of the 
 reapers. So this motion excluded either Mr. Lincoln or 
 Mr. Stanton, — which? By the custom of the bar, as be- 
 tween counsel of equal standing, and in the absence of any 
 action of the client, the original counsel speaks. By this 
 rule Mr. Lincoln had precedence. Mr. Stanton suggested 
 to Mr. Lincoln to make the speech. Mr. Lincoln an- 
 swered. 'No, you speak/ Mr. Stanton replied, 'I will/ 
 and taking up his hat, said he would go and make prepara- 
 tion. Mr. Lincoln acquiesced in this, but was greatly 
 grieved and mortified ; he took but little more interest in 
 the case, though remaining until the conclusion of the trial. 
 He seemed to be greatly depressed, and gave evidence 
 of that tendency to melancholy which so marked his char- 
 acter. His parting on leaving the city cannot be forgotten. 
 Cordially shaking the hand of his hostess he said : 'You 
 have made my stay here most agreeable, and I am a thou- 
 sand times obliged to you; but in reply to your request 
 for me to come again, I must say to you I never expect to 
 be in Cincinnati again. I have nothing against the city, but 
 things have so happened here as to make it undesirable for 
 me ever to return/ Lincoln felt that Stanton had not only 
 been very discourteous to him, but had purposely ignored 
 him in the case, and that he had received rather rude, if 
 not unkind, treatment from all hands. Stanton, in his 
 brusque and abrupt way, it is said, described him as a 'long, 
 lank creature from Illinois, wearing a dirty linen duster 
 for a coat, on the back of which the perspiration had 
 splotched wide stains that resembled a map of the con- 
 tinent/ Mr. Lincoln/' adds Mr. Dickson, "remained in 
 Cincinnati about a week, moving freely around, yet not 
 twenty men knew him personally or knew he was here ; 
 not a hundred would have known who he was had his 
 name been given to them. He came with the fond hope 
 of making fame in a forensic contest with Reverdy John- 
 son. He was pushed aside, humiliated and mortified. He 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 287 
 
 attached to the innocent city the displeasure that rilled his 
 bosom, and shook its dust from his feet. ,, On his return 
 to Springfield he was somewhat reticent regarding the 
 trial, and, contrary to his custom, communicated to his 
 associates at the bar but few of its incidents. He told 
 me that he had been "roughly handled by that man Stan- 
 ton" ; that he overheard the latter from an adjoining room, 
 while the door was slightly ajar, referring to Lincoln, in- 
 quire of another, "Where did that long-armed creature 
 come from, and what can he expect to do in this case?" 
 During the trial Lincoln formed a poor opinion of Judge 
 McLean. He characterized him as an "old granny," with 
 considerable vigor of mind, but no perception at all. "If 
 you were to point your ringer at him," he put it, "and a 
 darning needle at the same time he never would know 
 which was the sharpest." 
 
 As Lincoln grew into public favor and achieved such 
 marked success in the profession, half the bar of Spring- 
 field began to be envious of his growing popularity. I 
 believe there is less jealousy and bitter feeling among 
 lawyers than professional men of any other class; but it 
 should be borne in mind that in that early day a portion 
 of the bar in every county seat, if not a majority of the 
 lawyers everywhere, were politicians. Stuart frequently 
 differed from Lincoln on political questions, and was full 
 of envy. Likewise those who coincided with Lincoln in 
 his political views were disturbed in the same way. Even 
 Logan was not wholly free from the degrading passion. 
 But in this respect Lincoln suffered no more than other 
 great characters who preceded him in the world's history. 
 
 That which Lincoln's adversaries in a lawsuit feared 
 most of all was his apparent disregard of custom or pro- 
 fessional propriety in managing a case before a jury. He 
 brushed aside all rules, and very often resorted to some 
 strange and strategic performance which invariably broke 
 his opponent down or exercised some peculiar influence 
 over the jury. Hence the other side in a case were in con- 
 stant fear of one of his dramatic strokes, or trembled 
 lest he should "ring in" some ingeniously planned inter- 
 
288 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 ruption not on the programme. In a case where Judge 
 Logan — always earnest and grave — opposed him, Lincoln 
 created no little merriment by his reference to Logan's 
 style of dress. He carried the surprise in store for the lat- 
 ter, till he reached his turn before the jury. Addressing 
 them, he said : "Gentlemen, you. must be careful and not 
 permit yourselves to be overcome by the eloquence of 
 counsel for the defense. Judge Logan, I know, is an ef- 
 fective lawyer. I have met him too often to doubt that ; 
 but shrewd and careful though he be, still he is sometimes 
 wrong. Since this trial has begun I have discovered that, 
 with all his caution and fastidiousness, he hasn't knowl- 
 edge enough to put his shirt on right." Logan turned red 
 as crimson, but sure enough, Lincoln was correct, for 
 the former had donned a new shirt, and by mistake had 
 drawn it over his head with the pleated bosom behind. 
 The general laugh which followed destroyed the effect of 
 Logan's eloquence over the jury — the very point at which 
 Lincoln aimed. 
 
 The trial of William Armstrong 9 for the murder of 
 James P. Metzger, in May, 1858, at Beardstown, Illinois, 
 in which Lincoln secured the acquittal of the defendant, 
 was one of the gratifying triumphs in his career as a 
 lawyer. Lincoln's defense, wherein he floored the prin- 
 cipal prosecuting witness, who had testified positively to 
 seeing the fatal blow struck in the moonlight, by showing 
 from an almanac that the moon had set, was not more 
 convincing than his eloquent and irresistible appeal in his 
 client's favor. The latter's mother, old Hannah Arm- 
 strong, the friend of his youth, had solicited him to de- 
 fend her son. "He told the jury," relates the prosecuting 
 attorney, "of his once being a poor, friendless boy; that 
 Armstrong's parents took him into their house, fed and 
 clothed him, and gave him a home. There were tears 
 in his eyes as he spoke. The sight of his tall, quivering 
 frame, and the particulars of the story he so pathetically 
 told, moved the jury to tears also, and they forgot the 
 guilt of the defendant in their admiration of his advo- 
 9 Duff Armstrong 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 289 
 
 cate. It was the most touching scene I ever witnessed. " 
 Before passing it may be well to listen to the humble 
 tribute of old Hannah Armstrong, the defendant's mother : 
 "Lincoln had said to me, 'Hannah, your son will be cleared 
 before sundown.' I left the court-room, and they came 
 and told me that my son was cleared and a free man. I 
 went up to the courthouse. The jury shook hands with 
 me; so did the judge and Lincoln; tears streamed down 
 Lincoln's eyes. . . . After the trial I asked him what his 
 fee would be; told him I was poor. 'Why, Hannah/ he 
 said, 'I sha'n't charge you a cent, and anything else I can 
 do for you, will do it willingly and without charge.' He 
 afterwards wrote to me about a piece of land which cer- 
 tain men were trying to get from me, and said : 'Hannah, 
 they can't get your land. Let them try it in the Circuit 
 Court, and then you appeal it; bring it to the Supreme 
 Court and I and Herndon will attend to it for nothing.' " 
 
 The last suit of any importance in which Lincoln was 
 personally engaged, was known as the Johnson sand-bar 
 case. It involved the title to certain lands, the accretion 
 on the shores of Lake Michigan, in or near Chicago. It 
 was tried in the United States Circuit Court at Chicago 
 in April and May, 1860. During the trial, the Court — 
 Judge Drummond — and all the counsel on both sides dined 
 at the residence of Isaac N. Arnold, afterwards a mem- 
 ber of Congress. "Douglas and Lincoln," relates Mr. Ar- 
 nold, "were at the time both candidates for the nomination 
 for President. There were active and ardent political 
 friends of each at the table, and when the sentiment was 
 proposed, 'May Illinois furnish the next President,' it was 
 drank with enthusiasm by the friends of both Lincoln 
 and Douglas." 
 
 I could fill this volume with reminiscences of Lincoln's 
 career as a lawyer, but lest the reader should tire of what 
 must savor in many cases of monotony it is best to move 
 on. I have made this portion of the book rather full ; 
 but as Lincoln's individuality and peculiarities were more 
 marked in the law office and court-room than anywhere 
 else it will play its part in making up the picture of the 
 
29O LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 man. Enough has been told to show how, in the face of 
 adverse fortune and the lack of early training and by force 
 of his indomitable will and self-confidence, he gained such 
 ascendency among the lawyers of Illinois. The reader is 
 enabled thereby to understand the philosophy of his 
 growth. 
 
 But now another field is preparing to claim him. There 
 will soon be great need for his clear reason, masterly mind 
 and heroic devotion to principle. The distant mutterings 
 of an approaching contest are driving scattered factions 
 into a union of sentiment and action. As the phalanxes 
 of warriors are preparing for action, amid the rattle of 
 forensic musketry, Lincoln, their courageous leader, 
 equipped for battle, springs into view. 
 
CHAPTER TWELVE 
 
 WHILE LINCOLN IN A CERTAIN SENSE WAS BURIED IN THE 
 
 law from the time bis career in Congress closed till, to 
 use his own words, "the repeal of the Missouri Compro- 
 mise aroused him again," yet he was a careful student of 
 his times and kept abreast of the many and varied move- 
 ments in politics. He was generally on the Whig elec- 
 toral tickets, and made himself heard during each succes- 
 sive canvass, but he seemed to have lost that zealous in- 
 terest in politics which characterized his earlier days. He 
 plodded on unaware of, and seemingly without ambition 
 for, the great distinction that lay in store for him. 
 
 In the campaign of 1852, when Pierce was the Demo- 
 cratic candidate for President, Douglas made speeches for 
 him in almost every State in the Union. His "key-note" 
 was sounded at Richmond, Va. Lincoln, whose reputation 
 was limited by the boundaries of Illinois, was invited by 
 the Scott Club of Springfield to answer it, but his soul 
 and heart were not in the undertaking. He had not yet 
 awakened, and, considering it entire, the speech was a 
 poor effort. Another 1 has truthfully said of it, "If it was 
 distinguished by one quality above another, it was by its 
 attempts at humor; and all those attempts were strained 
 and affected, as well as very coarse. He displayed a jealous 
 and petulant temper from the first sentence to the last, 
 wholly beneath the dignity of the occasion and the im- 
 portance of the topic. Considered as a whole, it may be 
 said that none of his public performances was more un- 
 worthy of its really noble author than this one." The 
 
 1 Lamon, The Life of Abraham Lincoln, pp. 340-41. Original 
 footnote. 
 
292 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 closing paragraph will serve as fair sample of the entire 
 speech: "Let us stand by our candidate [General Scott] as 
 faithfully as he has always stood by our country, and I 
 much doubt if we do not perceive a slight abatement of 
 Judge Douglas's confidence in Providence as well as the 
 people. I suspect that confidence is not more firmly fixed 
 with the Judge than it was with the old woman whose horse 
 ran away with her in a buggy. She said she trusted in Prov- 
 idence till the 'britchen' broke, and then she didn't know 
 what on 'airth' to do. The chance is the Judge will see 
 the 'britchen' broke, and then he can at his leisure bewail 
 the fate of Locofocoism as the victim of misplaced con- 
 fidence. ,, 
 
 John T. Stuart relates that, as he and Lincoln were re- 
 turning from the court in Tazewell County in 1850, and 
 were nearing the little town of Dillon, they engaged in a 
 discussion of the political situation. "As we were coming 
 down the hill," are Stuart's words, "I said, 'Lincoln, the 
 time is coming when we shall have to be all either Aboli- 
 tionists or Democrats.' He thought a moment and then 
 answered, ruefully and emphatically, 'When that time 
 comes my mind is made up, for I believe the slavery ques- 
 tion can never be successfully compromised.' I responded 
 with equal emphasis, 'My mind is made up too'." Thus 
 it was with Lincoln. But he was too slow to suit the im- 
 petuous demand of the few pronounced Abolitionists 
 whom he met in his daily walks. The sentiment of the 
 majority in Springfield tended in the other direction, and 
 thus environed, Lincoln lay down like the sleeping lion. 
 The future would yet arouse him. At that time I was an 
 ardent Abolitionist in sentiment. I used to warn Lincoln 
 against his apparent conservatism when the needs of the 
 hour were so great ; but his only answer would be, "Billy, 
 you're too rampant and spontaneous." I was in corre- 
 spondence with Sumner, Greely, Phillips, and Garrison, 
 and was thus thoroughly imbued with all the rancor drawn 
 from such strong anti-slavery sources. I adhered to Lin- 
 coln, relying on the final outcome of his sense of justice 
 and right. Every time a good speech on the great issue 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 293 
 
 was made I sent for it. Hence you could find on my 
 table the latest utterances of Giddings, Phillips, Sumner, 
 Seward, and one whom I considered grander than all the 
 others — Theodore Parker. Lincoln and I took such papers 
 as the Chicago Tribune, New York Tribune, Anti-Slavery 
 Standard, Emancipator, and National Era. On the other 
 side of the question we took the Charleston Mercury and 
 the Richmond Enquirer. I also bought a book called 
 "Sociology," written by one Fitzhugh, which defended and 
 justified slavery in every conceivable way. In addition 
 I purchased all the leading histories of the slavery move- 
 ment, and other works which treated on that subject. Lin- 
 coln himself never bought many books, but he and I both 
 read those I have named. After reading them we would 
 discuss the questions they touched upon and the ideas they 
 suggested, from our different points of view. I was never 
 conscious of having made much of an impression on Mr. 
 Lincoln, nor do I believe I ever changed his views. I will 
 go further and say, that, from the profound nature of 
 his conclusions and the labored method by which he ar- 
 rived at them, no man is entitled to the credit of having 
 either changed or greatly modified them. I remember 
 once, after having read one of Theodore Parker's ser- 
 mons on slavery, saying to Mr. Lincoln substantially this : 
 "I have always noticed that ill-gotten wealth does no man 
 any good. This is as true of nations as individuals. I 
 believe that all the ill-gotten gain wrenched by us from 
 the negro through his enslavement will eventually be taken 
 from us, and we will be set back where we began." Lin- 
 coln thought my prophecy rather direful. He doubted 
 seriously if either of us would live to see the righting of 
 so great a wrong; but years after, when writing his sec- 
 ond Inaugural address, he endorsed the idea. Clothing it 
 in the most beautiful language, he says : "Yet if God wills 
 that it [the war] continue till all the wealth piled by the 
 bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited 
 toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn by 
 the lash shall be paid by another drawn by the sword, as 
 was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said, 
 
294 LIFE 0F LINCOLN 
 
 'The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous alto- 
 gether'." 
 
 The passage in May, 1854, of the Kansas-Nebraska bill 
 swept out of sight the Missouri Compromise and the Com- 
 promise measures of 1850. This bill, designed and carried 
 through by Douglas, was regarded by him as the master- 
 piece of all his varied achievements in legislation. It 
 served to prove more clearly than anything he had ever 
 before done his flexibility and want of political conscience. 
 Although in years gone before he had invoked the ven- 
 geance of Heaven on the ruthless hand that should dare 
 to disturb the sanctity of the compact of 1821, yet now 
 he was the arrogant and audacious leader in the very work 
 he had so heartily condemned. When we consider the bill 
 and the unfortunate results which followed it in the border 
 States we are irresistibly led to conclude that it was, all 
 things considered, a great public wrong and a most la- 
 mentable piece of political jugglery. The stump speech 
 which Thomas H. Benton charged that Douglas had "in- 
 jected into the belly of the bill" contains all there was of 
 Popular Sovereignty — "It being the true intent and mean- 
 ing of this act not to legislate slavery into any Territory or 
 State nor to exclude it therefrom, but to leave the people 
 thereof perfectly free to form and regulate their domestic 
 insitutions in their own way, subject only to the Constitu- 
 tion of the United States," an argument which, using Lin- 
 coln's words, "amounts to this : That if any one man 
 chooses to enslave another no third man shall be allowed 
 to object." The widespread feeling the passage of this 
 law aroused everywhere over the Union is a matter of 
 general history. It stirred up in New England the latent 
 hostility to the aggression of slavery; it stimulated to 
 extraordinary endeavors the derided Abolitionists, arming 
 them with new weapons; it sounded the death-knell of 
 the gallant old Whig party; it drove together strange, 
 discordant elements in readiness to fight a common enemy ; 
 it brought to the forefront a leader in the person of Lin- 
 coln. 
 
 The revolt of Cook, Judd, and Palmer, all young and 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 295 
 
 progressive, from the Democratic majority in the Legis- 
 lature was the first sign of discontent in Illinois. The 
 rude and partly hostile reception of Douglas, on his ar- 
 rival in Chicago, did not in any degree tend to allay the 
 feeling of disapproval so general in its manifestation. The 
 warriors, young and old, removed their armor from the 
 walls, and began preparations for the impending conflict. 
 Lincoln had made a few speeches in aid of Scott during 
 the campaign of 1852, but they were efforts entirely un- 
 worthy of the man. Now, however, a live issue was pre- 
 sented to him. No one realized this sooner than he. In 
 the office discussions he grew bolder in his utterances. He 
 insisted that the social and political difference between 
 slavery and freedom was becoming more marked ; that one 
 must overcome the other ; and that postponing the struggle 
 between them would only make it the more deadly in the 
 end. "The day of compromise, " he still contended, "has 
 passed. These two great ideas have been kept apart only 
 by the most artful means. They are like two wild beasts 
 in sight of each other, but chained and held apart. Some 
 day these deadly antagonists will one or the other break 
 their bonds, and then the question will be settled." In a 
 conversation with a fellow-lawyer (Joseph Gillespie) he 
 said of slavery : "It is the most glittering, ostentatious, and 
 displaying property in the world, and now, if a young man 
 goes courting, the only inquiry is how many negroes he or 
 his lady-love owns. The love for slave property is swal- 
 lowing up every other mercenary possession. Slavery is 
 a great and crying injustice — an enormous national crime." 
 At another time he made the observation that it was 
 "singular that the courts would hold that a man never lost 
 his right to his property that had been stolen from him, but 
 that he instantly lost his right to himself if he was stolen. " 
 It is useless to add more evidence — for it could be piled 
 mountain high — showing that at the very outset Mr. Lin- 
 coln was sound to the core on the injustice and crime of 
 human slavery. 
 
 After a brief rest at his home in Chicago Mr. Douglas 
 betook himself to the country, and in October, during the 
 
296 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 week of the State Fair, we find him in Springfield. On 
 Tuesday he made a speech in the State House which, in 
 view of the hostile attitude of some of his own party 
 friends, was a labored defense of his position. It was 
 full of ingenious sophistry and skilful argument. An 
 unprecedented concourse of people had gathered from all 
 parts of the State, and Douglas, fresh from the halls of 
 Congress, was the lion of the hour. On the following 
 day Mr. Lincoln, as the champion of the opponents of 
 Popular Sovereignty, was selected to represent those who 
 disagreed with the new legislation, and to answer Douglas. 
 His speech encouraged his friends no less than it startled 
 his enemies. At this time I was zealously interested in 
 the new movement, and not less so in Lincoln. I fre- 
 quently wrote the editorials in the Springfield Journal, 
 the editor, Simeon Francis, giving to Lincoln and to me 
 the utmost liberty in that direction. Occasionally Lin- 
 coln would write out matter for publication, but I believe 
 I availed myself of the privilege oftener than he. The 
 editorial in the issue containing the speeches of Lincoln 
 and Douglas on this occasion was my own, and while in 
 description it may seem rather strongly imbued with 
 youthful enthusiasm, yet on reading it in maturer years 
 I am still inclined to believe it reasonably faithful to the 
 facts and the situation. "The anti-Nebraska speech of 
 Mr. Lincoln," says the article, "was the profoundest in 
 our opinion that he has made in his whole life. He felt 
 upon his soul the truths burn which he uttered, and all 
 present felt that he was true to his own soul. His feelings 
 once or twice swelled within, and came near stifling utter- 
 ance. He quivered with emotion. The whole house was 
 as still as death. He attacked the Nebraska bill with unusual 
 warmth and energy; and all felt that a man of strength 
 was its enemy, and that he intended to blast it if he could 
 by strong and manly efforts. He was most successful, 
 and the house approved the glorious triumph of truth by 
 loud and continued huzzas. Women waved their white 
 handkerchiefs in token of woman's silent but heartfelt 
 assent. Douglas felt the sting ; the animal within him was 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 297 
 
 roused because he frequently interrupted Mr. Lincoln. 
 His friends felt that he was crushed by Lincoln's powerful 
 argument, manly logic, and illustrations from nature 
 around us. The Nebraska bill was shivered, and like a 
 tree of the forest was torn and rent asunder by the hot 
 bolts of truth. Mr. Lincoln exhibited Douglas in all the 
 attitudes he could be placed, in a friendly debate. He ex- 
 hibited the bill in all its aspects to show its humbuggery 
 and falsehood, and, when thus torn to rags, cut into slips, 
 held up to the gaze of the vast crowd, a kind of scorn 
 and mockery was visible upon the face of the crowd and 
 upon the lips of their most eloquent speaker. At the con- 
 clusion of this speech every man and child felt that it was 
 unanswerable. He took the heart captive and broke like a 
 sun over the understanding." 
 
 Anent the subject of editorial writing it may not be 
 inappropriate to relate that Lincoln and I both kept on 
 furnishing political matter of many varieties for the 
 Springfield Journal until 1860. Many of the editorials 
 that I wrote were intended directly or indirectly to pro- 
 mote the interest of Lincoln. I wrote one on the advis- 
 ability of annexing Cuba to the United States, taking the 
 rather advanced ground that slavery would be abolished 
 in Cuba before it would in this country — a position which 
 aroused no little controversy with other papers. One little 
 incident occurs to me in this connection which may not 
 be without interest to newspaper men. A newspaper had 
 been started in Springfield called the Conservative, which, 
 it was believed, was being run in the interest of the Demo- 
 cratic party. While pretending to support Fillmore it was 
 kept alive by Buchanan men and other kindred spirits, who 
 were somewhat pro-slavery in their views. The thing 
 was damaging Lincoln and the friends of freedom more 
 than an avowed Democratic paper could. The editor, an 
 easy, good-natured fellow, simply placed in charge to exe- 
 cute the will of those who gave the paper its financial 
 backing, was a good friend of mine, and by means of 
 this friendship I was always well informed of matters in 
 the Conservative editorial room. One day I read in the 
 
298 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 Richmond Enquirer an article endorsing slavery, and 
 arguing that from principle the enslavement of either 
 whites or blacks was justifiable and right. I showed it to 
 Lincoln who remarked that it was "rather rank doctrine 
 for Northern Democrats to endorse. I should like to 
 see," he said, with emphasis, "some of these Illinois news- 
 papers champion that." I told him if he would only wait 
 and keep his own counsel I would have a pro-slavery organ 
 in Springfield publish that very article. He doubted it, 
 but when I told him how it was to be done he laughed 
 and said, "Go in." I cut the slip out and succeeded in 
 getting it in the paper named. Of course it was a trick, 
 but it acted admirably. Its appearance in the new organ, 
 although without comment, almost ruined that valuable 
 journal, and my good-natured friend the editor was nearly 
 overcome by the denunciation of those who were respon- 
 sible for the organ's existence. My connection, and Lin- 
 coln's too, — for he endorsed the trick, — with the publica- 
 tion of the condemned article was eventually discovered, 
 and we were thereafter effectually prevented from getting 
 another line in the paper. The anti-slavery people quoted 
 the article as having been endorsed by a Democratic news- 
 paper in Springfield, and Lincoln himself used it with 
 telling effect. He joined in the popular denunciation, 
 expressing great astonishment that such a sentiment could 
 find lodgment in any paper in Illinois, although he knew 
 full well how the whole thing had been carried through. 
 During the remainder of the State-Fair week, speeches 
 were made by Lyman Trumbull, Sidney Breese, E. D. 
 Taylor, and John Calhoun, none of which unfortunately 
 have been preserved. Among those who mingled in the 
 crowd and listened to them was Owen Lovejoy, a radical, 
 fiery, brave, fanatical man, it may be, but one full of the 
 virus of Abolitionism. I had been thoroughly inoculated 
 with the latter myself, and so had many others, who helped 
 to swell the throng. The Nebraska movement had kin- 
 dled anew the old zeal, and inspired us with renewed 
 confidence to begin the crusade. As many of us as could, 
 assembled together to organize for the campaign before 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 299 
 
 us. As soon therefore as Lincoln finished his speech in 
 the hall of the House of Representatives, Lovejoy, moving 
 forward from the crowd, announced a meeting in the same 
 place that evening of all the friends of Freedom. That of 
 course meant the Abolitionists with whom I had been in 
 conference all the day. Their plan had been to induce 
 Mr. Lincoln to speak for them at their meeting. Strong 
 as I was in the faith, yet I doubted the propriety of Lin- 
 coln's taking any stand yet. As I viewed it, he was am- 
 bitious to climb to the United States Senate, and on 
 grounds of policy it would not do for him to occupy at 
 that time such advanced ground as we were taking. On 
 the other hand, it was equally as dangerous to refuse a 
 speech for the Abolitionists. I did not know how he felt 
 on the subject, but on learning that Lovejoy intended to 
 approach him with an invitation, I hunted up Lincoln and 
 urged him to avoid meeting the enthusiastic champion of 
 Abolitionism. "Go home at once," I said. "Take Bob 
 with you and drive somewhere into the country and stay 
 till this thing is over." Whether my admonition and 
 reasoning moved him or not I do not know, but it only 
 remains to state that under pretence of having business in 
 Tazewell County he drove out of town in his buggy, and 
 did not return till the apostles of Abolitionism had sepa- 
 rated and gone to their homes. 2 I have always believed 
 this little arrangement — it would dignify it too much to 
 call it a plan — saved Lincoln. If he had endorsed the 
 resolutions passed at the meeting, or spoken simply in 
 
 2 In the Ottawa debate Lincoln made the following reference 
 to this incident : "I believe this is true about those resolutions. 
 There was a call for a Convention to form a Republican party 
 at Springfield, and I think that my friend Mr. Lovejoy, who is 
 here upon this stand, had a hand in it. I think this is true, and 
 I think if he will remember accurately, he will be able to recollect 
 that he tried to get me into it, and I would not go in. I believe 
 it is also true that I went away from Springfield when the Con- 
 vention was in session, to attend court in Tazewell County. It 
 is true they did place my name, though without authority upon 
 the committee, and afterward wrote me to attend the meeting of 
 the committee; but I refused to do so, and I never had anything 
 to do with that organization." 
 
300 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 favor of freedom that night, he would have been identi- 
 fied with all the rancor and extremes of Abolitionism. 
 If, on the contrary, he had been invited to join them, and 
 then had refused to take a position as advanced as theirs, 
 he would have lost their support. In either event he was 
 in great danger; and so he who was aspiring to succeed 
 his old rival, James Shields, in the United States Senate 
 was forced to avoid the issue by driving hastily in his one 
 horse buggy to the court in Tazewell County. A singular 
 coincidence suggests itself in the fact that, twelve years 
 before, James Shields and a friend drove hastily in the 
 same direction, and destined for the same point, to force 
 Lincoln to take issue in another and entirely different 
 matter. 
 
 By request of party friends Lincoln was induced to fol- 
 low after Douglas and, at the various places where the 
 latter had appointments to speak, reply to him. On the 
 16th of October they met at Peoria, where Douglas en- 
 joyed the advantages of an "open and close." Lincoln 
 made an effective speech, which he wrote out and fur- 
 nished to the Sangamon Journal for publication, and which 
 can be found among his public utterances. His party 
 friends in Springfield and elsewhere, who had urged him 
 to push after Douglas till he cried "enough/* were sur- 
 prised a few days after the Peoria debate to find him at 
 home, with the information that by an agreement with 
 the latter they were both to return home and speak no 
 more during the campaign. Judge of his astonishment a 
 few days later to find that his rival, instead of going direct 
 to his home in Chicago, had stopped at Princeton and 
 violated his express agreement by making a speech there ! 
 Lincoln was much displeased at this action of Douglas, 
 which tended to convince him that the latter was really a 
 man devoid of fixed political morals. I remember his 
 explanation in our office made to me, William Butler, Wil- 
 liam Jayne, Ben F. Irwin, and other friends, to account 
 for his early withdrawal from the stump. After the 
 Peoria debate Douglas approached him and flattered him 
 by saying that he was giving him more trouble on the terri- 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 301 
 
 torial and slavery questions than all the United States Sen- 
 ate, and he therefore proposed to him that both should 
 abandon the field and return to their homes. Now Lincoln 
 could never refuse a polite request — one in which no prin- 
 ciple was involved. I have heard him say, "It's a for- 
 tunate thing I wasn't born a woman, for I cannot refuse 
 anything, it seems. " He therefore consented to the cessa- 
 tion of debate proposed by Douglas, and the next day 
 both went to the town of Lacon, where they had been 
 billed for speeches. Their agreement was kept from their 
 friends, and both declined to speak — Douglas, on the 
 ground of hoarseness, and Lincoln gallantly refusing to 
 take advantage of "Judge Douglas's indisposition." Here 
 they separated, Lincoln going directly home, and Douglas, 
 as before related, stopping at Princeton and colliding in 
 debate with Owen Love joy. Upon being charged after- 
 wards with his breech of agreement Douglas responded 
 that Lovejoy "bantered and badgered" him so persistently 
 he could not gracefully resist the encounter. The whole 
 thing thoroughly displeased Lincoln. 3 
 
 During this campaign Lincoln was nominated and elected 
 to the Legislature. This was done in the face of his 
 unwillingness and over his protest. On the ticket with 
 him was Judge Logan. Both were elected by a majority 
 of about 600 votes. Lincoln, being ambitious to reach 
 the United States Senate, and warmly encouraged in his 
 aspirations by his wife, resigned his seat in the Legislature 
 in order that he might the more easily be elected to succeed 
 
 3 On March 15, 1866, John H. Bryant of Princeton, Illinois, 
 wrote Herndon the following letter: "I have succeeded in finding 
 an old file of our Princeton papers, from which I learn that 
 Mr. Douglas spoke here on Wednesday, Oct. 18, 1854. This 
 fixes the date. I recollect that he staid at Tiskilwa, six miles 
 south of this, the night before, and a number of our Democrats 
 went down the next morning and escorted him to this place. 
 Douglas spoke first one half-hour and was answered by Lovejoy 
 one half-hour, when Douglas talked till dark, giving no oppor- 
 tunity for reply." 
 
 For a skeptical view of this episode as here related see Angle, 
 "The Peoria Truce," in the Journal of the Illinois State Historical 
 Society, January, 1929. 
 
302 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 his old rival James Shields, who was then one of the 
 senators from Illinois. His canvass for that exalted office 
 was marked by his characteristic activity and vigilance. 
 During the anxious moments that intervened between the 
 general election and the assembling of the Legislature he 
 slept, like Napoleon, with one eye open. While attending 
 court at Clinton on the 11th of November, a few days 
 after the election, he wrote to a party friend in the town 
 of Paris : "I have a suspicion that a Whig has been elected 
 to the Legislature from Edgar. If this is not so, why 
 then, 'nix cum arousf but if it is so, then could you not 
 make a mark with him for me for U. S. Senator? I really 
 have some chance. Please write me at Springfield giving 
 me the names, post-offices, and political positions of your 
 Representative and Senator, whoever they may be. Let 
 this be confidential. " 
 
 [Letters which have come to light since Herndon wrote 
 reveal the intensity of Lincoln's campaign for the senator- 
 ship, as well as his political methods. The day before the 
 foregoing letter was written he had informed an old 
 supporter that "some friends here are really for me, for 
 the U. S. Senate, and I should be very grateful if you 
 could make a mark for me among your members. Please 
 write me at all events giving me the names, post-offices, 
 and 'political position' of members round about you." 
 Two weeks later he was asking a member of the Legislature 
 to "think it over, and see whether you can do better than 
 go for me." A few days later a careful letter went to 
 Joseph Gillespie of Edwardsville. "I have really got it 
 into my head to try to be United States Senator," Lin- 
 coln confessed, "and, if I could have your support, my 
 chances would be reasonably good. But I know, and ac- 
 knowledge, that you have as just claims to the place as I 
 have; and therefore I cannot ask you to yield to me, if 
 you are thinking di becoming a candidate, yourself. If, 
 however, you are not, then I should like to be remembered 
 affectionately by you ; and also to have you make a mark 
 for me with the Anti-Nebraska members, down your 
 way." Lincoln added that he would like to know, if Gil- 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 303 
 
 lespie had no objection to telling, whether Trumbull in- 
 tended "to make a push." 
 
 The progress of Lincoln's campaign is described in 
 several letters to Elihu B. Washburne of Galena. "As 
 to my own matter, things continue to look reasonably 
 well, ,, he wrote on December 11. After mentioning a 
 committal for which Washburne was responsible he added, 
 "I have not ventured to write all the members in your 
 district, lest some of them should be offended by the in- 
 delicacy of the thing — that is, coming from a total stranger. 
 Could you not drop some of them a line?" 
 
 Three days later appearances were less encouraging. 
 Something must be wrong in Chicago, Lincoln told Wash- 
 burne, for he could not get a word from his best friends 
 there in reply to his letters. "Wentworth has a knack of 
 knowing things better than most men. I wish you would 
 pump him, and write me what you get from him. Please 
 do this as soon as you can, as the time is growing short. " 
 
 Soon after the legislature organized Lincoln informed 
 Washburne of the political situation. "Besides the ten 
 or a dozen on our side who are willing to be known as 
 candidates, I think there are fifty secretly watching for 
 a chance. I do not know that it is much advantage to 
 have the largest number of votes at the start. If I did 
 know this to be an advantage, I should feel better, for I 
 cannot doubt that I have more committals than any other 
 man. Your district comes up tolerably well for me, but 
 not unanimously by any means. George Gage is for me, 
 as you know. J. H. Adams is not committed to me, but 
 I think will be for me. Mr. Talcott will not be for me 
 as a first choice. Dr. Little and Mr. Sargent are openly 
 for me. Professor Pinckney is for me, but wishes to be 
 quiet. Dr. Whitney writes me that Rev. Mr. Lawrence 
 will be for me, and his manner to me so indicates, but he 
 has not spoken it out. Mr. Swan I have some slight hopes 
 of. Turner says he is not committed, and I shall get him 
 whenever I can make it appear to be his interest to go for 
 me. Dr. Lyman and old Mr. Diggins will never go for 
 me as first choice. M. P. Sweet is here as a candidate, and 
 
304 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 I understand he claims he has twenty-two members com- 
 mitted to him. I think some part of his estimate must 
 be based on insufficient evidence, as I cannot well see 
 where they are to be found, and as I can learn the name 
 of one only — Day of La Salle. Still it may be so. There 
 are more than twenty-two Anti-Nebraska members who 
 are not committed to me. Tell Norton that Mr. Strunk 
 and Mr. Wheeler come out plump for me, and for which 
 I thank him. Judge Parks I have decided hopes of, but 
 he says he is not committed. I understand myself as 
 having twenty-six committals, and I do not think any other 
 one man has ten."] 
 
 That man who thinks Lincoln calmly sat down and 
 gathered his robes about him, waiting for the people to 
 call him, has a very erroneous knowledge of Lincoln. He 
 was always calculating, and always planning ahead. His 
 ambition was a little engine that knew no rest. The vicis- 
 situdes of a political campaign brought into play all his 
 tact and management and developed to its fullest extent 
 his latent industry. In common with other politicians he 
 never overlooked a newspaper man who had it in his 
 power to say a good or bad thing of him. The press of 
 that day was not so powerful an institution as now, but 
 ambitious politicians courted the favor of a newspaper 
 man with as much zeal as the same class of men have done 
 in later days. I remember a letter Lincoln once wrote to 
 the editor of an obscure little country newspaper in 
 southern Illinois in which he warms up to him in the fol- 
 lowing style. "Friend Harding: I have been reading 
 your paper for three or four years and have paid you 
 nothing for it." He then encloses ten dollars and ad- 
 monishes the editor with innocent complacency: "Put it 
 into your pocket, saying nothing further about it." Very 
 soon thereafter, he prepared an article on political matters 
 and sent it to the rural journalist, requesting its publica- 
 tion in the editorial columns of his "valued paper," but 
 the latter having followed Lincoln's directions and stowed 
 the ten dollars away in his pocket, and alive to the im- 
 portance of his journal's influence, declined, "because," 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 305 
 
 he said, "I long ago made it a rule to publish nothing as 
 editorial matter not written by myself." Lincoln read 
 the editor's answer to me. Although the laugh was on 
 Lincoln he enjoyed the joke heartily. "That editor," he 
 said, "has a rather lofty but proper conception of true 
 journalism." 
 
 Meanwhile the Legislature had convened and the Sena- 
 torial question came on for solution. The history of this 
 contest is generally understood, and the world has repeat- 
 edly been told how Lincoln was led to expect the place and 
 would have won but for the apostasy of the five Anti- 
 Nebraska men of Democratic antecedents who clung to 
 and finally forced the election of Lyman Trumbull. The 
 student of history in after years will be taught to revere 
 the name of Lincoln for his exceeding magnanimity in in- 
 ducing his friends to abandon him at the critical period 
 and save Trumbull, while he himself disappeared beneath 
 the waves of defeat. 
 
 [In the following letter to Washburne Lincoln gives a 
 detailed account of his defeat: 
 
 "Springfield, February 9, 1855. 
 "My Dear Sir: — The agony is over at last, and the result 
 you doubtless know. I write this only to give you some par- 
 ticulars to explain what might appear difficult of understand- 
 ing. I began with 44 votes, Shields 41, and Trumbull 5, — yet 
 Trumbull was elected. In fact, 47 different members voted 
 for me, — getting three new ones on the second ballot, and 
 losing four old ones. How came my 47 to yield to Trumbull's 
 5 ? It was Governor Matteson's work. He has been secretly 
 a candidate ever since (before, even) the fall election. All 
 the members round about the canal were Anti-Nebraska but 
 were nevertheless nearly all Democrats and old personal friends 
 of his. His plan was to privately impress them with the be- 
 lief that he was as good Anti-Nebraska as any one else, — at 
 least could be secured to be so by instructions, which could be 
 easily passed. In this way he got from four to six of that sort 
 of men to really prefer his election to that of any other man — 
 all sub rosa, of course. One notable instance of this sort was 
 with Mr. Strunk of Kankakee. At the beginning of the 
 session he came a volunteer to tell me he was for me and 
 
306 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 would walk a hundred miles to elect me ; but lo ! it was not 
 long before he leaked it out that he was going for me the 
 first few ballots and then was for Governor Matteson. 
 
 "The Nebraska men, of course, were not for Matteson; but 
 when they found they could elect no avowed Nebraska man, 
 they tardily determined to let him get whomever of our men 
 he could, by whatever means he could, and ask hint no 
 questions. In the mean time Osgood, Don. Morrison, and 
 Trapp of St. Clair had openly gone over from us. With the 
 united Nebraska force and their recruits, open and covert, it 
 gave Matteson more than enough to elect him. We saw it 
 plainly ten days ago, but with every possible effort could not 
 head it off. All that remained of the Anti-Nebraska force, 
 excepting Judd, Cook, Palmer, Baker and Allen of Madison, 
 and two or three of the secret Matteson men, would go into 
 caucus, and I could get the nomination of that caucus. But 
 the three senators and one of the two representatives above 
 named 'could never vote for a Whig/ and this incensed some 
 twenty Whigs to 'think' they would never vote for the man 
 of the five. So we stood, and so we went into the fight yes- 
 terday, — the Nebraska men very confident of the election of 
 Matteson, though denying that he was a candidate, and we 
 very much believing also that they would elect him. But they 
 wanted first to make a show of good faith to Shields by voting 
 for him a few times, and our secret Matteson men also wanted 
 to make a show of good faith by voting with us a few times. 
 So we led off. On the seventh ballot, I think, the signal was 
 given to the Nebraska men to turn to Matteson, which they 
 acted on to a man, with one exception, my old friend Strunk 
 going with them, giving him 44 votes. 
 
 "Next ballot the remaining Nebraska man and one pre- 
 tended Anti went over to him, giving him 46. The next still 
 another, giving him 47, wanting only three of an election. 
 In the mean time our friends, with a view of detaining our 
 expected bolters, had been turning from me to Trumbull till 
 he had risen to 35 and I had been reduced to 15. These would 
 never desert me except by my direction; but I became satis- 
 fied that if we could prevent Matteson's election one or two 
 ballots more, we could not possibly do so a single ballot after 
 my friends should begin to return to me from Trumbull. So 
 I determined to strike at once, and accordingly advised my 
 remaining friends to go for him, which they did and elected 
 him on the tenth ballot. 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 307 
 
 "Such is the way the thing was done. I think you would 
 have done the same under the circumstances ; though Judge 
 Davis, who came down this morning, declares he never would 
 have consented to the forty-seven men being controlled by the 
 five. I regret my defeat moderately, but I am not nervous 
 about it. I could have headed off every combination and 
 been elected, had it not been for Matteson's double game — 
 and his defeat now gives me more pleasure than my own gives 
 me pain. On the whole, it is perhaps as well for our general 
 cause that Trumbull is elected. The Nebraska men confess 
 that they hate it worse than anything that could have hap- 
 pened. It is a great consolation to see them worse whipped 
 than I am. I tell them it is their own fault — that they had 
 abundant opportunity to choose between him and me, which 
 they declined, and instead forced it on me to decide between 
 him and Matteson. 4 
 
 "With my grateful acknowledgments for the kind, active, 
 and continued interest you have taken for me in this matter, 
 allow me to subscribe myself. 
 
 "Yours forever, 
 
 "A. Lincoln." 
 
 The spirit in which Lincoln accepted defeat is shown 
 by a small item in the Illinois Journal a week after the 
 election. "A large number of anti-Nebraska members of 
 the Legislature met on yesterday," the paragraph reads, 
 "and partook of a dinner provided by the liberality of Mr. 
 Lincoln, at which there was besides good eating, good 
 speeches made, and excellent sentiments offered. The 
 affair passed off very pleasantly."] 
 
 This frustration of Lincoln's ambition had a marked ef- 
 fect on his political views. It was plain to him now that the 
 "irrepressible conflict" was not far ahead. With the 
 
 4 In a footnote in the original edition Herndon printed a letter 
 from Joseph Gillespie dated September 19, 1866, describing this 
 election. Gillespie's account coincides with Lincoln's, but he 
 adds that "S. T. Logan gave up Lincoln with great reluctance. 
 He begged hard to try him on one or two ballots more, but Mr. 
 Lincoln urged us not to risk it longer. I never saw the latter 
 more earnest and decided. He congratulated Trumbull warmly, 
 although of course greatly disappointed and mortified at his 
 own want of success." 
 
308 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 strengthening of his faith in a just cause so long held in 
 abeyance he became more defiant each day. But in the 
 very nature of things he dared not be as bold and out- 
 spoken as I. With him every word and sentence had to 
 be weighed and its effects calculated, before being uttered ; 
 but with me that operation had to be reversed if done 
 at all. An incident that occurred about this time will show 
 how his views were broadening. Some time after the 
 election of Trumbull a young negro, the son of a colored 
 woman in Springfield known as Polly, went from his home 
 to St. Louis and there hired as a hand on a lower Missis- 
 sippi boat, — for what special service, I do not recollect, — 
 arriving in New Orleans without what were known as 
 free papers. Though born free he was subjected to the 
 tyranny of the "black code," all the more stringent because 
 of the recent utterances of the Abolitionists in the North, 
 and was kept in prison until his boat had left. Then, as 
 no one was especially interested in him, he was forgotten. 
 After a certain length of time established by law, he would 
 inevitably have been sold in slavery to defray prison ex- 
 penses had not Lincoln and I interposed our aid. The 
 mother came to us with the story of the wrong done her 
 son and induced us to interfere in her behalf. We went 
 first to see the Governor of Illinois, who, after patient 
 and thorough examination of the law, responded that he 
 had no right or power to interfere. Recourse was then 
 had to the Governor of Louisiana, who responded in like 
 manner. We were sorely perplexed. A second interview 
 with the Governor of Illinois resulting in nothing favorable 
 Lincoln rose from his chair, hat in hand, and exclaimed 
 with some emphasis: "By God, Governor, I'll make the 
 ground in this country too hot for the foot of a slave, 
 whether you have the legal power to secure the release of 
 this boy or not." Having exhausted all legal means to 
 recover the negro we dropped our relation as lawyers to 
 the case. Lincoln drew up a subscription-list, which I 
 circulated, collecting funds enough to purchase the young 
 man's liberty. The money we sent to Col. A. P. Field, a 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 309 
 
 friend of ours in New Orleans, who applied it as directed, 
 and it restored the prisoner to his overjoyed mother. 
 
 The political history of the country, commencing in 
 1854 and continuing until the outbreak of the Rebellion, 
 furnishes the student a constant succession of stirring 
 and sometimes bloody scenes. No sooner had Lincoln 
 emerged from the senatorial contest in February, 1855, 
 and absorbed himself in the law, than the outrages on the 
 borders of Missouri and Kansas began to arrest public 
 attention. The stories of raids, election frauds, murders, 
 and other crimes were moving eastward with marked 
 rapidity. These outbursts of frontier lawlessness, led and 
 sanctioned by the avowed pro-slavery element, were not 
 only stirring up the Abolitionists to fever heat, but touch- 
 ing the hearts of humanity in general. In Illinois an asso- 
 ciation was formed to aid the cause of "Free-Soil" men in 
 Kansas. In the meetings of these bands the Abolitionists 
 of course took the most prominent part. At Springfield 
 we were energetic, vigilant, almost revolutionary. We 
 recommended the employment of any means, however 
 desperate, to promote and defend the cause of freedom. 
 At one of these meetings Lincoln was called on for a 
 speech. He responded to the request, counselling modera- 
 tion and less bitterness in dealing with the situation before 
 us. We were belligerent in tone, and clearly out of pa- 
 tience with the Government. Lincoln opposed the notion 
 of coercive measures with the possibility of resulting 
 bloodshed, advising us to eschew resort to the bullet. 
 "You can better succeed/' he declared, "with the ballot. 
 You can peaceably then redeem the Government and pre- 
 serve the liberties of mankind through your votes and 
 voice and moral influence. . . . Let there be peace. Revo- 
 lutionize through the ballot box, and restore the Govern- 
 ment once more to the affections and hearts of men by 
 making it express, as it was intended to do, the highest 
 spirit of justice and liberty. Your attempt, if there be 
 such, to resist the laws of Kansas by force is criminal and 
 wicked; and all your feeble attempts will be follies and 
 
310 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 end in bringing sorrow on your heads and ruin the cause 
 you would freely die to preserve !" These judicious words 
 of counsel, while they reduced somewhat our ardor and 
 our desperation, only placed before us in their real colors 
 the grave features of the situation. We raised a neat sum 
 of money, Lincoln showing his sincerity by joining in 
 the subscription, and forwarded it to our friends in 
 Kansas. 5 
 
 The Whig party, having accomplished its mission in the 
 political world, was now on the eve of a great break-up. 
 Lincoln realized this and, though proverbially slow in his 
 movements, prepared to find a firm footing when the great 
 rush of waters should come and the maddening freshet 
 sweep former landmarks out of sight. Of the strongest 
 significance in this connection is a letter written by him at 
 this juncture to an old friend in Kentucky (Joshua F. 
 Speed), who called to his attention their differences of 
 views on the wrong of slavery. Speaking of his observa- 
 tion of the treatment of the slaves, he says : "I confess I 
 hate to see the poor creatures hunted down and caught 
 and carried back to their unrequited toils; but I bite my 
 lips and keep quiet. In 1841 you and I had rather a tedious 
 low-water trip on a steamboat from Louisville to St. Louis. 
 You may remember, as I well do, that from Louisville to 
 the mouth of the Ohio, there were on board ten or a dozen 
 slaves shackled together with irons. That sight was a con- 
 tinued torment to me; and I see something like it every 
 time I touch the Ohio or any slave border. It is not fair 
 for you to assume that I have no interest in a thing which 
 has, and continually exercises, the power of making me 
 miserable. You ought rather to appreciate how much the 
 
 5 On October 24, 1860, Lincoln wrote his own account of this 
 episode to J. C. Lee : "... I never gave fifty dollars, nor one 
 dollar, nor one cent, for the object you mention, or any such 
 object. I once subscribed twenty-five dollars, to be paid whenever 
 Judge Logan would decide it was necessary to enable the people 
 of Kansas to defend themselves against any force coming against 
 them from without the Territory, and not by authority of the 
 United States. Logan never made the decision, and I never paid 
 a dollar on the subscription." 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 3II 
 
 great body of the Northern people do crucify their feelings 
 in order to maintain their loyalty to the Constitution and 
 the Union. I do oppose the extension of slavery because 
 my judgment and feeling so prompt me ; and I am under no 
 obligation to the contrary. If for this you and I must 
 differ, differ we must/' 
 
 Finding himself drifting about with the disorganized 
 elements that floated together after the angry political 
 waters had subsided, it became apparent to Lincoln that 
 if he expected to figure as a leader he must take a stand 
 himself. Mere hatred of slavery and opposition to the 
 injustice of the Kansas-Nebraska legislation were not all 
 that were required of him. He must be a Democrat, 
 Know-Nothing, Abolitionist, or Republican, or forever 
 float about in the great political sea without compass, rud- 
 der, or sail. At length he declared himself. Believing the 
 times were ripe for more advanced movements, in the 
 spring of 1856 I drew up a paper for the friends of free- 
 dom to sign, calling a county convention in Springfield to 
 select delegates for the forthcoming Republican State 
 convention in Bloomington. The paper was freely circu- 
 lated and generously signed. Lincoln was absent at the 
 time and, believing I knew what his "feeling and judg- 
 ment" on the vital questions of the hour were, I took the 
 liberty to sign his name to the call. The whole was then 
 published in the Springfield Journal. No sooner had it 
 appeared than John T. Stuart, who, with others, was en- 
 deavoring to retard Lincoln in his advanced movements, 
 rushed into the office and excitedly asked if "Lincoln had 
 signed the Abolition call in the Journal?" I answered in 
 the negative, adding that I had signed his name myself. 
 To the question, "Did Lincoln authorize you to sign it?" 
 I returned an emphatic "No." "Then," exclaimed the 
 startled and indignant Stuart, "you have ruined him." But 
 I was by no means alarmed at what others deemed in- 
 considerate and hasty action. I thought I understood 
 Lincoln thoroughly, but in order to vindicate myself if 
 assailed I immediately sat down, after Stuart had rushed 
 out of the office, and wrote Lincoln, who was then in 
 
312 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 Tazewell County attending court, a brief account of what 
 I had done and how much stir it was creating in the ranks 
 of his conservative friends. If he approved or disapproved 
 my course I asked him to write or telegraph me at once. 
 In a brief time came his answer: "All right; go ahead. 
 Will meet you — radicals and all." Stuart subsided, and 
 the conservative spirits who hovered around Springfield 
 no longer held control of the political fortunes of Abra- 
 ham Lincoln. 
 
 The Republican party came into existence in Illinois as 
 a party at Bloomington, May 29, 1856. The State con- 
 vention of all opponents of Anti-Nebraska legislation, re- 
 ferred to in a foregoing paragraph, had been set for that 
 day. Judd, Yates, Trumbull, Swett, and Davis were 
 there; so also was Lovejoy, who, like Otis of colonial 
 fame, was a flame of fire. The firm of Lincoln and 
 Herndon was represented by both members in person. 
 The gallant William H. Bissell, who had ridden at the 
 head of the Second Illinois Regiment at the battle of 
 Buena Vista in the Mexican war, was nominated as gov- 
 ernor. The convention adopted a platform ringing with 
 strong Anti-Nebraska sentiments, and then and there gave 
 the Republican party its official christening. The business 
 of the convention being over, Mr. Lincoln, in response to 
 repeated calls, came forward and delivered a speech of 
 such earnestness and power that no one who heard it will 
 ever forget the effect it produced. In referring to this 
 speech some years ago I used the f ellowing rather graphic 
 language : "I have heard or read all of Mr. Lincoln's great 
 speeches, and I give it as my opinion that the Blooming- 
 ton speech was the grand effort of this life. Heretofore he 
 had simply argued the slavery question on grounds of 
 policy, — the statesman's grounds, — never reaching the 
 question of the radical and the eternal right. Now he 
 was newly baptized and freshly born; he had the fer- 
 vor of a new convert; the smothered flame broke out; 
 enthusiasm unusual to him blazed up ; his eyes were aglow 
 with an inspiration; he felt justice; his heart was alive to 
 the right ; his sympathies, remarkably deep for him, burst 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 313 
 
 forth, and he stood before the throne of the eternal 
 Right. His speech was full of fire and energy and force ; 
 it was logic; it was pathos; it was enthusiasm; it was 
 justice, equity, truth, and right set ablaze by the divine 
 fires of a soul maddened by the wrong; it was hard, heavy, 
 knotty, gnarly, backed with wrath. I attempted for about 
 fifteen minutes as was usual with me then to take notes, 
 but at the end of that time I threw pen and paper away 
 and lived only in the inspiration of the hour. If Mr. 
 Lincoln was six feet, four inches high usually, at Bloom- 
 ington that day he was seven feet, and inspired at that. 
 From that day to the day of his death he stood firm in the 
 right. He felt his great cross, had his great idea, nursed 
 it, kept it, taught it to others, in his fidelity bore witness 
 of it to his death, and finally sealed it with his precious 
 blood." The foregoing paragraph, used by me in a lecture 
 in 1866, may to the average reader seem somewhat vivid 
 in description, besides inclining to extravagance in im- 
 agery, yet although more than twenty years have passed 
 since it was written I have never seen the need of altering 
 a single sentence. I still adhere to the substantial truth- 
 fulness of the scene as described. Unfortunately Lincoln's 
 speech was never written out nor printed, and we are 
 obliged to depend for its reproduction upon personal 
 recollection. 
 
 [Only one contemporary report of Lincoln's address is 
 known to exist, and that was published in the Alton 
 Courier for June 5, 1856. "Abraham Lincoln of Sanga- 
 mon came upon the platform amid deafening applause," 
 the editor wrote. "He enumerated the pressing reasons 
 of the present movement. He was here ready to fuse with 
 anyone who would unite with him to oppose slave power; 
 spoke of the bugbear of disunion which was so vaguely 
 threatened. It was to be remembered that the Union 
 must be preserved in the purity of its principles as well 
 as the integrity of territorial parts. It must be 'Liberty 
 and Union now and forever, one and inseparable. f The 
 sentiment in favor of white slavery now prevailed in all 
 
314 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 the slave state papers, except those of Kentucky, Tennes- 
 see, and Missouri and Maryland. Such was the progress 
 of National Democracy. Douglas once claimed against 
 him that Democracy favored more than his principles, the 
 individual rights of man. Was it not strange that he must 
 stand there now to defend those rights against their for- 
 mer eulogist? The Black Democracy were endeavoring 
 to cite Henry Clay to reconcile old Whigs to their doctrine 
 and repaid them with the very cheap compliment of Na- 
 tional Whigs." 
 
 That Herndon's editorial eulogy of Lincoln's speech 
 had a real basis in fact is indicated by the comment of the 
 Chicago Democratic Press. "For an hour and a half," 
 the reporter wrote, "he held the assemblage spell-bound 
 by the power of his argument, the intense irony of his 
 invective, and the deep earnestness and fervid brilliancy 
 of his eloquence. When he concluded, the audience 
 sprang to their feet, and cheer after cheer told how deeply 
 their hearts had been touched, and their souls warmed up 
 to a generous enthusiasm."] 
 
 The Bloomington convention and the part Lincoln took 
 in it met no such hearty response in Springfield as we 
 hoped would follow. It fell flat, and in Lincoln's case 
 drove from him many persons who had heretofore been 
 his warm political friends. A few days after our return we 
 announced a meeting at the courthouse to ratify the ac- 
 tion of the Bloomington convention. After the usual ef- 
 forts to draw a crowd, however, only three persons had 
 temerity enough to attend. They were Lincoln, the writer, 
 and a courageous man named John Pain. Lincoln, in 
 answer to the "deafening calls" for a speech, responded 
 that the meeting was larger than he knew it would be, and 
 that while he knew that he himself and his partner would 
 attend he was not sure anyone else would, and yet another 
 man had been found brave enough to come out. "While 
 all seems dead," he exhorted, "the age itself is not. It 
 liveth as sure as our Maker liveth. Under all this seeming 
 want of life and motion, the world does move neverthe- 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 315 
 
 less. Be hopeful, and now let us adjourn and appeal to 
 the people. " 8 
 
 Not only in Springfield but everywhere else the found- 
 ers of the Republican party — the apostles of freedom — 
 went out to battle for the righteousness of their cause. 
 Lincoln, having as usual been named as one of the Presi- 
 dential electors, canvassed the State, making in all about 
 fifty speeches. He was in demand everywhere. I have 
 
 6 This paragraph constitutes the one exception to my statement 
 (see Editor's Preface, p. xxxviii) that when Herndon states a fact 
 as of his own knowledge, it may be relied upon as true. The 
 Illinois State Journal, in its issue of June 11, 1856, contains the 
 following paragraph : "The Court House was filled to overflowing 
 with a very intelligent audience, last evening, assembled for the 
 purpose of ratifying the nominations of the People's Anti-Ne- 
 braska Convention. Many were obliged to leave because they 
 could not obtain seats, while a large number stood in the aisles 
 for hours. It having been announced that several gentlemen 
 would address the meeting, Hon. A. Lincoln took the stand and 
 pronounced the most logical and finished argument against the 
 evils to be apprehended from the continued aggressions of the 
 slave power, that it has ever been our good fortune to listen to. 
 We shall not mar its beauty by an attempt to give a synopsis 
 of it. The speaker's manner was calm and unimpassioned, he 
 preferring rather to appeal to the reason than to excite the feel- 
 ings of his hearers. He brought his remarks to a close at about 
 ten o'clock, and introduced Hon. John M. Palmer of Macoupin, 
 who successfully exposed the tortuous course that Messrs. Doug- 
 las, Richardson and Harris have pursued on the question of 
 the Missouri Compromise, and which has resulted in the dis- 
 ruption of the once powerful and patriotic Democratic party — a 
 fragment now proclaiming that slavery has become national and 
 freedom sectional, and the original element, to which he still 
 claims affinity, resisting this infamous doctrine now as hereto- 
 fore. Mr. Palmer made many friends last night." Even the 
 Illinois State Register, whose business it was, as a Democratic 
 paper, to belittle everything Republican, admitted in its issue 
 for June 12 that two hundred had attended the meeting. 
 
 It is possible, of course, that Herndon's story refers to an 
 earlier meeting which had been planned and which failed, but 
 this seems very unlikely. The contradiction seems inexplicable. 
 However, on the strength of this one exception, clear-cut though 
 it is, I have not seen fit to modify an hypothesis the soundness 
 of which is indicated by all other tests. 
 
316 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 before me a package of letters addressed to him, inviting 
 him to speak at almost every county seat in the State. 
 Yates wanted him to go to one section of the State, Wash- 
 burne to another, and Trumbull still another ; while every 
 cross-roads politician and legislative aspirant wanted him 
 "down in our country, where we need your help." Joshua 
 R. Giddings wrote him words of encouragement. "You 
 may start," said the valiant old Abolitionist in a letter from 
 Peoria, "on the one great issue of restoring Kansas and 
 Nebraska to freedom, or rather of restoring the Missouri 
 Compromise, and in this State no power on earth can 
 withstand you on that issue." The demand for Lincoln 
 was not confined to his own State. Indiana sent for him, 
 Wisconsin also, while Norman B. Judd and Ebenezer 
 Peck, who were stumping Iowa, sent for him to come 
 there. A town committee invited him to come during 
 "our Equestrian Fair on the 9th, 10th, and 11th," evi- 
 dently anticipating a three days' siege. An enthusiastic 
 officer in a neighboring town urges him: "Come to our 
 place, because in you do our people place more confidence 
 than in any other man. Men who do not read want the 
 story told as you only can tell it. Others may make fine 
 speeches, but it would not be 'Lincoln said so in his 
 speech'." A jubilant friend in Chicago writes: "Push 
 on the column of freedom. Give the Buck Africans plenty 
 to do in Egypt. The hour of our redemption draweth 
 nigh. We are coming to Springfield with 20,000 ma- 
 jority!" A postmaster, acting under the courage of his 
 convictions, implores him to visit his neighborhood. "The 
 Democrats here," he insists, "are dyed in the wool. 
 Thunder and lightning would not change their political 
 complexion. I am postmaster here," he adds, confiden- 
 tially, "for which reason I must ask you to keep this pri- 
 vate, for if old Frank (President Pierce) were to hear of 
 my support of Fremont I would get my walking papers 
 sure enough." A settlement of Germans in southern In- 
 diana asked to hear him; and the president of a college, 
 in an invitation to address the students under his charge, 
 characterizes him as "one providentially raised up for a 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 317 
 
 time like this, and even should defeat come in the contest, 
 it would be some consolation to remember we had Hector 
 for a leader." 
 
 And thus it was everywhere. Lincoln's importance in the 
 conduct of the campaign was apparent to all, and his can- 
 vass was characterized by his usual vigor and effectiveness. 
 He was especially noted for his attempt to break down the 
 strength of Fillmore, who was nominated as a third party 
 candidate and was expected to divide the Republican vote. 
 He tried to wean away Fillmore's adherents by an adroit 
 and ingenious letter sent to those suspected of the latter 's 
 support, and marked confidential, in which he strove to 
 show that in clinging to their candidate they were really 
 aiding the election of Buchanan. 
 
 One of these letters which Lincoln wrote to counteract 
 the Fillmore movement is still in my possession. As it 
 is more or less characteristic I copy it entire: 
 
 "Springfield, September 8, 1856. 
 "Harrison Maltby, Esq. 
 
 "Dear Sir: 
 
 "I understand you are a Fillmore man. Let me prove to 
 you that every vote withheld from Fremont and given to Fill- 
 more in this State actually lessens Fillmore's chance of being 
 President. 
 
 "Suppose Buchanan gets all the slave States and Pennsyl- 
 vania and any other one State besides ; then he is elected, no 
 matter who gets all the rest. But suppose Fillmore gets the 
 two slave States of Maryland and Kentucky, then Buchanan 
 is not elected ; Fillmore goes into the House of Representatives 
 and may be made President by a compromise. But suppose 
 again Fillmore's friend throw away a few thousand votes on 
 him in Indiana and Illinois ; it will inevitably give these States 
 to Buchanan, which will more than compensate him for the 
 loss of Maryland and Kentucky; it will elect him, and leave 
 Fillmore no chance in the House of Representatives or out 
 of it. 
 
 "This is as plain as adding up the weight of three small 
 hogs. As Mr. Fillmore has no possible chance to carry 
 Illinois for himself it is plainly to his interest to let Fremont 
 take it and thus keep it out of the hands of Buchanan. Be 
 
318 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 not deceived. Buchanan is the hard horse to beat in this race. 
 Let him have Illinois, and nothing can beat him; and he will 
 get Illinois if men persist in throwing away votes upon Mr. 
 Fillmore. Does some one persuade you that Mr. Fillmore 
 can carry Illinois ? Nonsense ! There are over seventy news- 
 papers in Illinois opposing Buchanan, only three or four of 
 which support Mr. Fillmore, all the rest going for Fremont. 
 Are not these newspapers a fair index of the proportion of 
 the votes ? If not, tell me why. 
 
 "Again, of these three or four Fillmore newspapers, two at 
 least are supported in part by the Buchanan men, as I under- 
 stand. Do not they know where the shoe pinches? They 
 know the Fillmore movement helps them, and therefore they 
 help it. 
 
 "Do think these things over and then act according to your 
 judgment. 
 
 "Yours very truly, 
 
 "A. Lincoln." 7 
 
 (Confidential) 
 
 But the effort proved unavailing, for in spite of all his 
 arguments and appeals a large number of the Fillmore men 
 clung tenaciously to their leader, resulting in Buchanan's 
 election. The vote in Illinois stood, Buchanan 105,344, 
 Fremont 96,180, and Fillmore 37,451. At the same time 
 Bissell was elected governor by a majority of 4,729 over 
 W. A. Richardson, Democrat. After the heat and burden 
 of the day Lincoln returned home, bearing with him more 
 and greater laurels than ever. The signs of the times 
 indicated, and the result of the canvass demonstrated, that 
 he and he alone was powerful enough to meet the re- 
 doubtable Little Giant in a greater conflict yet to follow. 
 
 7 Lincoln had this letter lithographed and sent it broadcast 
 over the state, filling in the name of the addressee and signing it 
 in his own hand. So cleverly was it done that even today, after 
 his own handwriting has faded from black to brown, it will 
 pass for an autograph letter under any but the most critical 
 inspection. In the original edition Herndon used the letter as a 
 footnote. 
 
CHAPTER THIRTEEN 
 
 I SHALL BE FORCED TO OMIT MUCH THAT HAPPENED DUR- 
 
 ing the interval between the election of Buchanan and the 
 campaign of 1858, for the reason that it would not only 
 swell this work to undue proportions, but be a mere repe- 
 tition of what has been better told by other writers. It 
 is proper to note in passing, however, that Mr. Lincoln's 
 reputation as a political speaker was no longer bounded by 
 the border lines of Illinois. It had passed beyond the 
 Wabash, the Ohio, and the Mississippi rivers, and while 
 his pronounced stand on the slavery question had in- 
 creased the circle of his admirers in the North it provoked a 
 proportionate amount of execration in the South. He could 
 not help the feeling that he was now the leading Republican 
 in his State, and he was therefore more or less jealous of 
 his prerogative. Formidable in debate, plain in speech, 
 without pretence of literary acquirements, he was none the 
 less self-reliant. He already envied the ascendency and 
 domination Douglas exercised over his followers, and felt 
 keenly the slight given him by others of his own faith 
 whom he conceived were disposed to prevent his attaining 
 the leadership of his party. I remember early in 1858 
 of his coming into the office one morning and speaking 
 in very dejected terms of the treatment he was receiving 
 at the hands of Horace Greeley. "I think Greeley," he 
 complained, "is not doing me right. His conduct, I be- 
 lieve, savors a little of injustice. I am a true Republican 
 and have been tried already in the hottest part of the anti- 
 slavery fight, and yet I find him taking up Douglas, a 
 veritable dodger, — once a tool of the South, now its enemy, 
 — and pushing him to the front. He forgets that when 
 
320 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 he does that he pulls me down at the same time. I fear 
 Greeley's attitude will damage me with Sumner, Seward, 
 Wilson, Phillips, and other friends in the East." This was 
 said with so much of mingled sadness and earnestness that 
 I was deeply impressed. Lincoln was gloomy and restless 
 the entire day. Greeley's letters were driving the en- 
 thusiasm out of him. 1 He seemed unwilling to attend to 
 any business, and finally, just before noon, left the office, 
 going over to the United States Court room to play a 
 game of chess with Judge Treat, and did not return again 
 that day. I pondered a good deal over Lincoln's dejection, 
 and that night, after weighing the matter well in mind, re- 
 solved to go to the eastern States myself and endeavor to 
 sound some of the great men there. The next day, on 
 apprising Lincoln of my determination, he questioned its 
 propriety. Our relations, he insisted, were so intimate 
 that a wrong construction might be put upon the move- 
 ment. I listened carefully to him, but as I had never been 
 beyond the Alleghanies I packed my valise and went, not- 
 withstanding his objections. I had been in correspondence 
 on my own account with Greeley, Seward, Sumner, Phil- 
 lips, and others for several years, had kept them informed 
 of the feelings of our people and the political campaigns 
 in their various stages, but had never met any of them 
 
 1 Herndon printed the following example in the original edition 
 as a footnote: 
 
 "I have not proposed to instruct the Republicans of Illinois in 
 their political duties, and I doubt very much that even so much 
 as is implied in your letter can be fairly deduced from anything 
 I have written. Now let me make one prediction. If you run a 
 candidate [for Congress] against Harris and he is able to can- 
 vass he will beat you badly. He is more of a man at heart and 
 morally than Douglas, and has gone into this fight with more 
 earnestness and less calculation. Of the whole Douglas party 
 he is the truest and best. I never spoke, a dozen words with 
 him in my life, having met him but once, but if I lived in his 
 district I should vote for him. As I have never spoken of him 
 in my paper, and suppose I never shall, I take the liberty to 
 say this much to you. Now paddle your own dug-out ! 
 
 "Yours, 
 "Horace Greeley." 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 321 
 
 save Greeley. I enjoyed heartily the journey and the 
 varied sights and scenes that attended it. Aside from my 
 mission, the trip was a great success. The magnificent 
 buildings, the display of wealth in the large cities and 
 prosperous manufacturing towns, broadened the views of 
 one whose vision had never extended beyond the limits 
 of the Illinois prairies. In Washington I saw and dined 
 with Trumbull, who went over the situation with me. 
 Trumbull had written to Lincoln shortly before that he 
 thought it "useless to speculate upon the further course of 
 Douglas or the effect it is to have in Illinois or other 
 States. He himself does not know where he is going or 
 where he will come out." At my interview with Trum- 
 bull, however, he directed me to assure Mr. Lincoln that 
 Douglas did not mean to join the Republican party, how- 
 ever great the breach between himself and the administra- 
 tion might be. "We Republicans here," he said exultingly 
 in another letter to Lincoln, "are in good spirits, and are 
 standing back to let the fight go on between Douglas and 
 his former associates. Lincoln will lose nothing by this 
 if he can keep the attention of our Illinois people from be- 
 ing diverted from the great and vital question of the day 
 to the minor and temporary issues which are now being 
 discussed." In Washington I saw also Seward, Wilson, 
 and others of equal prominence. Douglas was confined to 
 his house by illness, but on receiving my card he directed 
 me to be shown up to his room. We had a pleasant and 
 interesting interview. Of course the conversation soon 
 turned on Lincoln. In answer to an inquiry regarding the 
 latter I remarked that Lincoln was pursuing the even tenor 
 of his way. "He is not in anybody's way," I contended, 
 "not even in yours, Judge Douglas." He was sitting up 
 in a chair smoking a cigar. Between puffs he responded 
 that neither was he in the way of Lincoln or any one else, 
 and did not intend to invite conflict. He conceived that 
 he had achieved what he had set out to do, and hence did 
 not feel that his course need put him in opposition to Mr. 
 Lincoln or his party. "Give Mr. Lincoln my regards," 
 he said, rather warmly, "when you return, and tell him I 
 
322 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 have crossed the river and burned my boat." Leaving 
 Washington, my next point was New York, where I met 
 the editor of the Anti-Slavery Standard, Horace Greeley, 
 Henry Ward Beecher, and others. I had a long talk with 
 Greeley, whom I noticed leaned toward Douglas. I found, 
 however, he was not at all hostile to Lincoln. I presented 
 the latter's case in the best phase I knew how, but while I 
 drew but little from him, I left feeling that he hadn't been 
 entirely won over. He introduced me to Beecher, who, 
 as everybody else did, inquired after Lincoln and through 
 me sent him words of encouragement and praise. (Lin- 
 coln's greatest fear was that Douglas might be taken up 
 by the Republicans. Senator Seward, when I met him in 
 Washington, assured me there was no danger of it, insist- 
 ing that the Republicans nor anyone else could place any 
 reliance on a man so slippery as Douglas.) 2 From New 
 York I went to Boston, and from the latter place I wrote 
 Lincoln a letter which happily I found not long since 
 in a bundle of Lincoln's letters, and which I insert here, 
 believing it affords a better reflex of the situation at the 
 time than anything I might see fit to say now. Here it is : 
 
 "Revere House, 
 
 "Boston, Mass., March 24, 1858. 
 "Friend Lincoln. 
 
 "I am in this city of notions, and am well — very well indeed. 
 I wrote you a hasty letter from Washington some days ago, 
 since which time I have been in Philadelphia, Baltimore, New 
 York, and now here. I saw Greeley, and so far as any of 
 our conversation is interesting to you I will relate. And we 
 talked, say twenty minutes. He evidently wants Douglas 
 sustained and sent back to the Senate. He did not say so in 
 so many words, yet his feelings are with Douglas. I know it 
 from the spirit and drift of his conversation. He talked bit- 
 terly — somewhat so — against the papers in Illinois, and said 
 they were fools. I asked him this question, 'Greeley, do you 
 want to see a third party organized, or do you want Douglas 
 to ride to power through the North, which he has so much 
 
 2 The sentences in parentheses were used as a footnote in the 
 original edition. 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 323 
 
 abused and betrayed?' and to which he replied, 'Let the 
 future alone; it will all come right. Douglas is a brave man. 
 Forget the past and sustain the righteous. 9 Good God, right- 
 eous, eh ! 
 
 "Since I have landed in Boston I have seen much that was 
 entertaining and interesting. This morning I was introduced 
 to Governor Banks. He and I had a conversation about Re- 
 publicanism and especially about Douglas. He asked me this 
 question, 'You will sustain Douglas in Illinois, wont you?' 
 and to which I said 'No, never!' He affected to be much sur- 
 prised, and so the matter dropped and turned on Republican- 
 ism, or in general — Lincoln. Greeley's and other sheets that 
 laud Douglas, Harris, et al., want them sustained, and will try 
 to do it. Several persons have asked me the same question 
 which Banks asked, and evidently they get their cue, ideas, or 
 what not from Greeley, Seward, et al. By-the-bye, Greeley 
 remarked to me this, The Republican standard is too high; 
 we want something practical/ 
 
 "This may not be interesting to you, but however it may 
 be, it is my duty to state what is going on, so that you may 
 head it off — counteract it in some way. I hope it can be done. 
 The northern men are cold to me — somewhat repellent. 
 
 "Your friend, 
 
 "W. H. Herndon." 
 
 On my return home I had encouraging news to relate. 
 I told Lincoln of the favorable mention I had heard of 
 him by Phillips, Sumner, Seward, Garrison, Beecher, and 
 Greeley. I brought with me additional sermons and lec- 
 tures by Theodore Parker, who was warm in his commen- 
 dation of Lincoln. One of these was a lecture on "The 
 Effect of Slavery on the American People/' which was 
 delivered in the Music Hall in Boston, and which I gave 
 to Lincoln, who read and returned it. He liked especially 
 the following expression, which he marked with a pencil, 
 and which he in substance afterwards used in his Gettys- 
 burg address : "Democracy is direct self-government, over 
 all the people, for all the people, by all the people." 
 
 Meanwhile, passing by other events which have become 
 interwoven in the history of the land, we reach April, 
 1858, at which time the Democratic State convention met 
 
324 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 and, besides nominating candidates for State offices, en- 
 dorsed Mr. Douglas' services in the Senate, thereby vir- 
 tually renominating him for that exalted office. In the 
 very nature of things Lincoln was the man already chosen 
 in the hearts of the Republicans of Illinois for the same 
 office, and therefore with singular appropriateness they 
 passed, with great unanimity, at their convention in Spring- 
 field on the 16th of June, the characteristic resolution: 
 "That Hon. Abraham Lincoln is our first and only choice 
 for United States Senator to fill the vacancy about to be 
 created by the expiration of Mr. Douglas' term of of- 
 fice/' There was of course no surprise in this for Mr. 
 Lincoln. He had been all along led to expect it, and with 
 that in view had been earnestly and quietly at work pre- 
 paring a speech in acknowledgment of the honor about 
 to be conferred on him. This speech he wrote on stray 
 envelopes and scraps of paper, as ideas suggested them- 
 selves, putting them into that miscellaneous and conven- 
 ient receptacle, his hat. As the convention drew near he 
 copied the whole on connected sheets, carefully revising 
 every line and sentence, and fastened them together, for 
 reference during the delivery of the speech, and for pub- 
 lication. The former precaution, however, was unneces- 
 sary, for he had studied and read over what he had written 
 so long and carefully that he was able to deliver it without 
 the least hesitation or difficulty. A few days before the 
 convention, when he was at work on the speech, I re- 
 member that Jesse K. Dubois, 3 who was Auditor of State, 
 came into the office and, seeing Lincoln busily writing, 
 inquired what he was doing or what he was writing. Lin- 
 coln answered gruffly, "It's something you may see or hear 
 
 3 In an undated manuscript Jesse K. Dubois made the following 
 statement, which Herndon published as a footnote in the original 
 edition: "After the convention Lincoln met me on the street 
 and said, 'Dubois, I can tell you now what I was doing the other 
 day when you came into my office. I was writing that speech, 
 and I knew if I read the passage about the "house divided against 
 itself" to you, you would ask me to change or modify it, and 
 that I was determined not to do. I had willed it so, and was 
 willing if necessary to perish with it.' " 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 325 
 
 sometime, but I'll not let you see it now." I myself knew 
 what he was writing, but having asked neither my opinion 
 nor that of anyone else, I did not venture to offer any sug- 
 gestions. After he had finished the final draft of the speech, 
 he locked the office door, drew the curtain across the glass 
 panel in the door, and read it to me. At the end of each 
 paragraph he would halt and wait for my comments. I 
 remember what I said after hearing the first paragraph, 
 wherein occurs the celebrated figure of the house divided 
 against itself : "It is true, but is it wise or politic to say 
 so?" He responded: "That expression is a truth of all 
 human experience, 'a house divided against itself cannot 
 stand/ and 'he that runs may read.' The proposition also 
 is true, and has been for six thousand years. I want to 
 use some universally known figure expressed in simple 
 language as universally well-known, that may strike home 
 to the minds of men in order to raise them up to the peril 
 of the times. I do not believe I would be right in chang- 
 ing or omitting it. I would rather be defeated with this 
 expression in the speech, and uphold and discuss it before 
 the people, than be victorious without it." This was not 
 the first time Lincoln had endorsed the dogma that our 
 Government could not long endure part slave and part 
 free. He had incorporated it in a speech at Bloomington 
 in 1856, but in obedience to the emphatic protest of Judge 
 T. Lyle Dickey and others, who conceived the idea that 
 its "delivery would make abolitionists of all the North and 
 slavery propagandists of all the South, and thereby precipi- 
 tate a struggle which might end in disunion," he consented 
 to suspend its repetition, but only for that campaign. 4 Now, 
 
 4 In a letter dated December 8, 1866, written to Herndon and 
 used by him as a footnote in the original edition, T. Lyle Dickey 
 wrote: "After the meeting was over Mr. Lincoln and I returned 
 to the Pike House, where we occupied the same room. Imme- 
 diately on reaching the room I said to him, What in God's name 
 could induce you to promulgate such an opinion?' He replied 
 familiarly, 'Upon my soul, Dickey, I think it is true.' I reasoned 
 to show it was not a correct opinion. He argued strenuously 
 that the opinion was a sound one. At length I said, 'Suppose 
 you are right, that our Government cannot last part free and part 
 
326 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 however, the situation had changed somewhat. There had 
 been a shifting of scenes, so to speak. The Republican 
 party had gained some in strength and more in moral ef- 
 fectiveness and force. Nothing could keep back in Lin- 
 coln any longer, sentiments of right and truth, and he pre- 
 pared to give the fullest expression to both in all future 
 cases. 
 
 Before delivering his speech he invited a dozen or so 
 of his friends over to the library of the State House, 
 where he read and submitted it to them. After the read- 
 ing he asked each man for his opinion. Some condemned 
 
 J and not one endorsed it. One man, more forcible than 
 N elegant, characterized it as a "d — d fool utterance ;" an- 
 other said the doctrine was "ahead of its time;" and still 
 another contended that it would drive away a good many 
 voters fresh from the Democrats ranks. Each man at- 
 tacked it in his criticism. I was the last to respond. Al- 
 though the doctrine announced was rather rank, yet it 
 suited my views, and I said, "Lincoln, deliver that speech 
 
 x^as read and it will make you President. " At the time I 
 hardly realized the force of my prophecy. Having pa- 
 tiently listened to these various criticisms from his friends 
 — all of which with a single exception were adverse — he 
 rose from his chair, and after alluding to the careful study 
 and intense thought he had given the question, he answered 
 all their objections substantially as follows : "Friends, this 
 thing has been retarded long enough. The time has come 
 when these sentiments should be uttered ; and if it is de- 
 creed that I should go down because of this speech, then 
 let me go down linked to the truth — let me die in the ad- 
 vocacy of what is just and right." The next day, the 17th, 
 the speech was delivered just as we had heard it read. 
 Up to this time Seward had held sway over the North by 
 
 slave, what good is to be accomplished by inculcating that opinion 
 (or truth, if you please) in the minds of the people?' After some 
 minutes reflection he rose and approached me, extended his right 
 hand to take mine, and said, 'From respect for your judgment, 
 Dickey, I'll promise you I won't teach the doctrine again during 
 this campaign'." 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 327 
 
 his "higher-law" sentiments, but the "house-divided- 
 against-itself" speech by Lincoln in my opinion drove the 
 nail into Seward's political coffin. 5 
 
 If any student of oratorical history, after reading I 
 Lincoln's speech on this occasion, will refer to Webster's j 
 reply to Hayne in the Senate, he will be struck with the \ 
 similarity in figure and thought in the opening lines of j 
 both speeches. In fact, it may not be amiss to note that, ]J 
 in this instance, Webster's effort was carefully read by * 
 Lincoln and served in part as his model. 
 
 Lincoln had now created in reality a more profound im- 
 pression than he or his friends anticipated. Many Repub- 
 licans deprecated the advanced ground he had taken, the 
 more so as the Democrats rejoiced that it afforded them 
 an issue clear and well-defined. Numbers of his friends 
 distant from Springfield, on reading his speech, wrote 
 him censorious letters; and one well-informed co-worker 
 (Leonard Swett) predicted his defeat, charging it to the 
 first ten lines of the speech. These complaints, coming 
 apparently from every quarter, Lincoln bore with great 
 patience. To one complainant who followed him into his 
 office he said proudly, "If I had to draw a pen across my 
 record, and erase my whole life from sight, and I had one 
 poor gift or choice left as to what I should save from the 
 wreck, I should choose that speech and leave it to the world 
 unerased." 
 
 Meanwhile Douglas had returned from Washington to 
 his home in Chicago. Here he rested for a few days until 
 his friends and co-workers had arranged the details of 
 a public reception on the 9th of July, when he delivered 
 from the balcony of the Tremont House a speech intended 
 as an answer to the one made by Lincoln in Springfield. 
 Lincoln was present at this reception, but took no part 
 
 5 In all probability, Herndon's foresight was not quite so 
 remarkable as he later remembered it to have been. On October 4, 
 1858, in a letter to Theodore Parker, he commented on Parker's 
 choice of Seward, Chase or Trumbull for the next Republican 
 nominee as follows: "In answer to this I say 'we of the West 
 have no choice — we do not care who it is, so that he is a good 
 Republican V and so forth. Newton, Lincoln and Herndon, p. 222. 
 
328 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 in it. The next day, however, he replied. Both speeches 
 were delivered at the same place. Leaving Chicago, Doug- 
 las passed on down to Bloomington and Springfield, where 
 he spoke on the 16th and 17th of July respectively. On the 
 evening of the latter day Lincoln responded again in a 
 most effective and convincing effort. The contest now 
 took on a different phase. Lincoln's Republican friends 
 urged him to draw Douglas into a joint debate, and 
 he accordingly sent him a challenge on the 24th of 
 July. It is not necessary, I suppose, to reproduce here 
 the correspondence that passed between these great leaders. 
 On the 30th Douglas finally accepted the proposition to 
 "divide time, and address the same audiences/' naming 
 seven different places, one in each Congressional district, 
 outside of Chicago and Springfield, for joint meetings. 
 The places and dates were, Ottawa, August 21 ; Freeport, 
 August 27; Jonesboro, September 15; Charleston, Sep- 
 tember 18, Galesburg, October 7; Quincy, October 13; 
 and Alton, October 15. "I agree to your suggestion," 
 wrote Douglas, "that we shall alternately open and close 
 the discussion. I will speak at Ottawa one hour, you can 
 reply, occupying an hour and a half, and I will then follow 
 for half an hour. At Freeport you shall open the dis- 
 cussion and speak one hour, I will follow for an hour 
 and a half, and you can then reply for half an hour. We 
 will alternate in like manner in each successive place." 
 To this arrangement Lincoln on the 31st gave his consent, 
 "although," he wrote, "by the terms as you propose you 
 take four openings and closes to my three." 
 
 Among the items of preparation on Lincoln's part hith- 
 erto withheld is the following letter, which explains itself : 
 
 "Springfield, June 28, 1858. 
 "A. Campbell, Esq. 
 
 "My Dear Sir: — In 1856 you gave me authority to draw 
 on you for any sum not exceeding five hundred dollars. I 
 see clearly that such a privilege would be more available now 
 than it was then. I am aware that times are tighter now than 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 329 
 
 they were then. Please write me at all events, and whether 
 you can now do anything or not I shall continue grateful for 
 the past. 
 
 "Yours very truly, 
 
 "A. Lincoln." 
 
 The following letter from Mr. Campbell is not without 
 interest : 
 
 "La Salle, III, Dec. 12th, 1888. 
 "Jesse W. Weik, Esq. 
 
 "My Dear Sir: — I gave Mr. Lincoln some money in the 
 office of Lincoln & Herndon in Springfield in 1856, but I do 
 not remember the exact amount. It was, however, between 
 two and three hundred dollars. I never had Mr. Lincoln's 
 obligation for the payment of any money. I never kept any 
 account of nor charged my memory with any money I gave 
 him. It was given to defray his personal expenses and other- 
 wise promote the interest of a cause which I sincerely be- 
 lieved to be for the public good, and without the thought or 
 expectation of a dollar of it ever being returned. From what 
 I knew and learned of his careful habits in money matters in 
 the campaign of 1856 I am entirely confident that every dollar 
 and dime I ever gave was carefully and faithfully applied to 
 the uses and purposes for which it was given. 
 
 "Sincerely yours, 
 
 "A. Campbell." 8 
 
 History furnishes few characters whose lives and careers 
 were so nearly parallel as those of Lincoln and Douglas. 
 They met for the first time at the Legislature in Vandalia 
 in 1834, where Lincoln was a member of the House of 
 Representatives and Douglas was in the lobby. The next 
 year Douglas was also a member. In 1839 both were ad- 
 mitted to practice in the Supreme Court of Illinois on the 
 same day. In 1841 both courted the same young lady. In 
 1846 both represented Illinois in Congress at Washington, 
 the one in the upper and the other in the lower House. In 
 1858 they were opposing candidates for United States 
 
 6 Herndon used these two letters as a footnote in the original 
 edition. 
 
33° LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 Senator; and finally, to complete the remarkable counter- 
 part, both were candidates for the Presidency in 1860. 
 While it is true that their ambitions ran in parallel lines, 
 yet they were exceedingly unlike in all other particulars. 
 Douglas was short, — something over five feet high, — heavy 
 set, with a large head, broad shoulders, deep chest, and 
 striking features. He was polite and affable, but fearless. 
 He had that unique trait, magnetism, fully developed in his 
 nature, and that attracted a host of friends and readily 
 made him a popular idol. He had had extensive experience 
 in debate, and had been trained by contact for years with 
 the great minds and orators of Congress. He was full of 
 political history, well informed on general topics, eloquent 
 almost to the point of brilliancy, self-confident to the point 
 of arrogance, and a dangerous competitor in every respect. 
 What he lacked in ingenuity he made up in strategy, and 
 if in debate he could not tear down the structure of his 
 opponent's argument by a direct and violent attack, he was 
 by no means reluctant to resort to a strained restatement 
 of the latter's position or to the extravagance of ridicule. 
 Lincoln knew his man thoroughly and well. He had often 
 met Douglas on the stump; was familiar with his tactics, 
 and though fully aware of his "want of fixed political 
 morals/' was not averse to measuring swords with the 
 elastic and flexible "Little Giant." 
 
 An erroneous impression has grown up in recent years 
 concerning Douglas's ability and standing as a lawyer. 
 One of the latest biographies of Lincoln credits him with 
 many of the artifices of the "shyster." This is not only 
 unfair, but decidedly untrue. I always found Douglas at 
 the bar to be a broad, fair, and liberal-minded man. Al- 
 though not a thorough student of the law his large fund of 
 good commonsense kept him in the front rank. He was 
 equally generous and courteous, and he never stooped to 
 gain a case. I know that Lincoln entertained the same 
 view of him. It was only in politics that Douglas demon- 
 strated any want of inflexibility and rectitude, and then 
 only did Lincoln manifest a lack of faith in his morals. 7 
 7 Original footnote. 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 33 1 
 
 Lincoln himself was constructed on an entirely different 
 foundation. His base was plain commonsense, direct state- 
 ment, and the inflexibility of logic. In physical make-up 
 he was cold — at least not magnetic — and made no effort to 
 dazzle people by his bearing. He cared nothing for a fol- 
 lowing, and though he had often before struggled for a 
 political prize, yet in his efforts he never had strained his 
 well-known spirit of fairness or open love of the truth. 
 He analyzed everything, laid every statement bare, and by 
 dint of his broad reasoning powers and manliness of ad- 
 mission inspired his hearers with deep conviction of his 
 earnestness and honesty. Douglas may have electrified the 
 crowds with his eloquence or charmed them with his 
 majestic bearing and dexterity in debate, but as each man, 
 after the meetings were over and the applause had died 
 away, went to his home, his head rang with Lincoln's 
 logic and appeal to manhood. 
 
 A brief description of Mr. Lincoln's appearance on the 
 stump and of his manner when speaking may not be with- 
 out interest. When standing erect he was six feet four 
 inches high. He was lean in flesh and ungainly in figure. 
 Aside from the sad, pained look due to habitual melancholy, 
 his face had no characteristic or fixed expression. He was 
 thin through the chest, and hence slightly stoop-shouldered. 
 When he arose to address courts, juries, or crowds of peo- 
 ple, his body inclined forward to a slight degree. At first he 
 was very awkward, and it seemed a real labor to adjust 
 himself to his surroundings. He struggled for a time under 
 a feeling of apparent diffidence and sensitiveness, and these 
 only added to his awkwardness. I have often seen and sym- 
 pathized with Mr. Lincoln during these moments. When he 
 began speaking, his voice was shrill, piping, and unpleasant. 
 His manner, his attitude, his dark, yellow face, wrinkled 
 and dry, his oddity of pose, his diffident movements — 
 everything seemed to be against him, but only for a short 
 time. After having arisen, he generally placed his hands 
 behind him, the back of his left hand in the palm of his 
 right, the thumb and fingers of his right hand clasped 
 around the left arm at the wrist. For a few moments he 
 
33 2 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 displayed the combination of awkwardness, sensitiveness, 
 and diffidence. As he proceeded he became somewhat ani- 
 mated, and to keep in harmony with his growing warmth 
 his hands relaxed their grasp and fell to his side. Presently 
 he clasped them in front of him, interlocking his fingers, 
 one thumb meanwhile chasing another. His speech now 
 requiring more emphatic utterance, his fingers unlocked 
 and his hands fell apart. His left arm was thrown behind, 
 the back of his hand resting against his body, his right 
 hand seeking his side. By this time he had gained suffi- 
 cient composure, and his real speech began. He did not 
 gesticulate as much with his hands as with his head. He 
 used the latter frequently, throwing it with vim this way 
 and that. This movement was a significant one when he 
 sought to enforce his statement. It sometimes came with 
 a quick jerk, as if throwing off electric sparks into com- 
 bustible material. He never sawed the air nor rent space 
 into tatters and rags as some orators do. He never acted 
 for stage effect. He was cool, considerate, reflective — in 
 time self-possessed and self-reliant. His style was clear, 
 terse, and compact. In argument he was logical, demon- 
 strative, and fair. He was careless of his dress, and his 
 clothes, instead of fitting neatly as did the garments of 
 Douglas on the latter's well-rounded form, hung loosely on 
 his giant frame. As he moved along in his speech he be- 
 came freer and less uneasy in his movements ; to that ex- 
 tent he was graceful. He had a perfect naturalness, a 
 strong individuality; and to that extent he was dignified. 
 He despised glitter, show, set forms, and shams. He 
 spoke with effectiveness and to move the judgment as well 
 as the emotions of men. There was a world of meaning 
 and emphasis in the long, bony finger of his right hand as 
 he dotted the ideas on the minds of his hearers. Some- 
 times, to express joy or pleasure, he would raise both hands 
 at an angle of about fifty degrees, the palms upward, as 
 if desirous of embracing the spirit of that which he loved. 
 If the sentiment was one of detestation — denunciation of 
 slavery, for example — both arms, thrown upward and fists 
 clenched, swept through the air, and he expressed an exe- 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 333 
 
 cration that was truly sublime. This was one of his most 
 effective gestures, and signified most vividly a fixed deter- 
 mination to drag down the object of his hatred and trample 
 it in the dust. He always stood squarely on his feet, toe 
 even with toe; that is, he never put one foot before the 
 other. He neither touched nor leaned on anything for 
 support. He made but few changes in his positions and 
 attitudes. He never ranted, never walked backward and 
 forward on the platform. To ease his arms he frequently 
 caught hold, with his left hand, of the lapel of his coat, 
 keeping his thumb upright and leaving his right hand free 
 to gesticulate. The designer of the monument recently 
 erected in Chicago has happily caught him in just this 
 attitude. As he proceeded with his speech the exercise of 
 his vocal organs altered somewhat the tone of his voice. 
 It lost in a measure its former acute and shrilling pitch, 
 and mellowed into a more harmonious and pleasant sound. 
 His form expanded, and, notwithstanding the sunken 
 breast, he rose up a splendid and imposing figure. In his 
 defense of the Declaration of Independence — his greatest 
 inspiration — he was "tremendous in the directness of his 
 ^utterances ; he rose to impassioned eloquence, unsurpassed 
 by Patrick Henry, Mirabeau, or Vergniaud, as his soul was 
 inspired with the thought of human right and Divine jus- 
 tice." 8 His little gray eyes flashed in a face aglow with 
 the fire of his profound thoughts; and his uneasy move- 
 ments and diffident manner sunk themselves beneath the 
 wave of righteous indignation that came sweeping over 
 him. Such was Lincoln the orator. 
 
 We can somewhat appreciate the feeling with which 
 Douglas, aggressive and fearless though he was, welcomed 
 a contest with such a man as Lincoln. Four years before, 
 in a joint debate with him, he had asked for a cessation 
 of forensic hostilities, conceding that his opponent of rail- 
 splitting fame had given him "more trouble than all the 
 United States Senate together." Now he was brought face 
 to face with him again. 
 
 It is unnecessary and not in keeping with the purpose 
 
 8 Horace White to Herndon, June 9, 1865. 
 
334 LIFE 0F LINCOLN 
 
 of this work to reproduce here the speeches made by either 
 Lincoln or Douglas in their justly renowned debate. Briefly 
 stated, Lincoln's position was announced in his opening 
 speech at Springfield : " 'A house divided against itself can- 
 not stand.' I believe this Government cannot endure per- 
 manently half slave and half free. I do not expect the 
 Union to be dissolved, I do not expect the house to fall — 
 but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become 
 all the one thing or the other. Either the opponents of 
 slavery will arrest the further spread of it and place it 
 where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in 
 the course of ultimate extinction ; or its advocates will push 
 it forward till it becomes alike lawful in all the states, 
 old as well as new, North as well as South." The posi- 
 tion of Douglas on the question of slavery was one of 
 indifference. He advocated with all his power the doctrine 
 of "Popular Sovereignty/' a proposition, as quaintly put 
 by Lincoln, which meant that, "if one man chooses to 
 enslave another, no third man has a right to object." At 
 the last joint discussion in Alton, Lincoln, after reflecting 
 on the patriotism of any man who was so indifferent to the 
 wrong of slavery that he cared not whether it was voted up 
 or down, closed his speech with this stirring summary: 
 "That [slavery] is the real issue. That is the issue that will 
 continue in this country when these poor tongues of Judge 
 Douglas and myself shall be silent. It is the eternal strug- 
 gle between these two principles — right and wrongs — 
 throughout the world. They are the two principles that 
 have stood face to face from the beginning of time, and 
 will ever continue to struggle. The one is the common 
 right of humanity, and the other the divine right of kings. 
 It is the same principle, in whatever shape it develops 
 itself. It is the same spirit that says : 'You work and toil 
 and earn bread, and I eat it/ No matter in what shape it 
 comes, whether from the mouth of a king who seeks to 
 bestride the people of his own nation and live by the fruit 
 of their labor, or from one race of men as an apology 
 for enslaving another race, it is the same tyrannical prin- 
 ciple." 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 335 
 
 It is unnecessary, I presume, to insert here the seven 
 questions which Douglas propounded to Lincoln at their 
 first meeting at Ottawa, nor the historic four which Lin- 
 coln asked at Freeport. It only remains to say that in 
 answering Lincoln at Freeport, Douglas accomplished his 
 own political downfall. He was swept entirely away from 
 his former foundation, and even the glory of a subsequent 
 election to the Senate never restored him to it. 
 
 [It is generally conceded that Lincoln's second Freeport 
 question cost Douglas the support of the South in 1860. 
 "Can the people of the United States Territory/' Lincoln 
 asked, "in any lawful way, against the wish of any citizen 
 of the United States, exclude slavery from its limits prior 
 to the formation of a State constitution ?" 
 
 Douglas replied in the following words : "I answer em- 
 phatically, as Mr. Lincoln has heard me answer a hundred 
 times from every stump in Illinois, that in my opinion the 
 people of a Territory can, by lawful means, exclude slavery 
 from their limits prior to the formation of a State con- 
 stitution. Mr. Lincoln knew that I had answered that 
 question over and over again. He heard me argue the 
 Nebraska bill on that principle all over the State in 1854, 
 in 1855, and in 1856, and he has no excuse for pretending 
 to be in doubt as to my position on that question. It 
 matters not what way the Supreme Court may hereafter 
 decide as to the abstract question whether slavery may or 
 may not go into a Territory under the Constitution, the 
 people have the lawful means to introduce it or exclude it 
 as they please, for the reason that slavery cannot exist a 
 day or an hour anywhere, unless it is supported by local 
 police regulations. Those police regulations can only be 
 established by the local legislature; and if the people are 
 opposed to slavery, they will elect representatives to that 
 body who will by unfriendly legislation effectually prevent 
 the introduction of it into their midst. If, on the contrary, 
 they are for it, their legislation will favor its extension. 
 Hence, no matter what the decision of the Supreme Court 
 may be on that abstract question, still the right of the 
 people to make a Slave Territory or a Free Territory is 
 
336 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 perfect and complete under the Nebraska bill. I hope Mr. 
 Lincoln deems my answer satisfactory on that point/'] 
 
 During the canvass Mr. Lincoln, in addition to the 
 seven meetings with Douglas, filled thirty-one appoint- 
 ments made by the State Central Committee, besides speak- 
 ing at many other times and places not previously adver- 
 tised. In his trips to and fro over the State, between meet- 
 ings, he would stop at Springfield sometimes, to consult 
 with his friends or to post himself up on questions that 
 occurred during the canvass. He kept me busy hunting 
 up old speeches and gathering facts and statistics at the 
 State library. I made liberal clippings bearing in any 
 way on the questions of the hour from every newspaper 
 I happened to see, and kept him supplied with them ; and 
 on one or two occasions, in answer to letters and tele- 
 grams, I sent books forward to him. He had a little 
 leather bound book, fastened in front with a clasp, in 
 which he and I both kept inserting newspaper slips and 
 newspaper comments until the canvass opened. In ar- 
 ranging for the joint meetings and managing the crowds 
 Douglas enjoyed one great advantage. He had been United 
 States Senator for several years, and had influential friends 
 holding comfortable government offices all over the State. 
 These men were on hand at every meeting, losing no op- 
 portunity to applaud lustily all the points Douglas made 
 and to lionize him in every conceivable way. The ingen- 
 iously contrived display of their enthusiasm had a marked 
 effect on certain crowds — a fact of which Lincoln fre- 
 quently complained to his friends. One who accompanied 
 him during the canvass (Henry C. Whitney) relates this: 
 "Lincoln and I were at the Centralia agricultural fair the 
 day after the debate at Jonesboro. Night came on and we 
 were tired, having been on the fair grounds all day. We 
 were to go north on the Illinois Central railroad. The train 
 was due at midnight, and the depot was full of people. I 
 managed to get a chair for Lincoln in the office of the super- 
 intendent of the railroad, but small politicians would intrude 
 so that he could scarcely get a moment's sleep. The train 
 came and was filled instantly. I got a seat near the door 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 337 
 
 for Lincoln and myself. He was worn out, and had to 
 meet Douglas the next day at Charleston. An empty car, 
 called a saloon car, was hitched on to the rear of the train 
 and locked up. I asked the conductor, who knew Lincoln 
 and myself well, — we were both attorneys of the road, — 
 if Lincoln could not ride in that car ; that he was exhausted 
 and needed rest ; but the conductor refused. I afterwards 
 got him in by a stratagem. At the same time George B. 
 McClellan in person was taking Douglas around in a spe- 
 cial car and special train; and that was the unjust treat- 
 ment Lincoln got from the Illinois Central railroad. Ev- 
 ery interest of that road and every employee was against 
 Lincoln and for Douglas." 
 
 The heat and dust and bonfires of the campaign at last 
 came to an end. The election took place on the second 
 of November, and while Lincoln received of the popular 
 vote a majority of over four thousand, yet the returns 
 from the legislative districts foreshadowed his defeat. In 
 fact, when the Senatorial election took place in the Legisla- 
 ture, Douglas received fifty- four and Lincoln forty-six 
 votes — one of the results of the lamentable apportion- 
 ment law then in operation. 
 
 Horace Greeley was one of the most vigilant men dur- 
 ing the debate. He wrote to Lincoln and me many letters 
 which I still retain. In a letter to me during the campaign, 
 October 6, he says with reference to Douglas : "In his pres- 
 ent position I could not of course support him, but he need 
 not have been in this position had the Republicans of 
 Illinois been as wise and far-seeing as they are earnest 
 and true . . . but seeing things are as they are, I do not 
 wish to be quoted as authority for making trouble and 
 division among our friends. " Soon after hearing of the 
 result of the November election he again writes : "I ad- 
 vise you privately that Mr. Douglas would be the strong- 
 est candidate that the Democratic party could present for 
 President ; but they will not present him. The old leaders 
 wouldn't endorse it. As he is doomed to be slaughtered 
 at Charleston it is good policy to fatten him meantime. 
 He will cut up the better at killing time." An inquiry for 
 
338 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 his preference as to presidential timber elicited this re- 
 sponse, December 4th. "As to President, my present judg- 
 ment is Edward Bates, with John M. Read for Vice; but 
 I am willing to go anything that looks strong. I don't wish 
 to load the team heavier than it will pull through. As to 
 Douglas, he is like the man's boy who (he said) 'didn't 
 weigh so much as he expected, and he always knew he 
 wouldn't/ I never thought him very sound coin; but I 
 didn't think it best to beat him on the back of his anti- 
 Lecompton fight, and I am still of that opinion." 9 
 
 The letters of Lincoln at this period are the best evi- 
 dence of his feelings now obtainable, and of how he ac- 
 cepted his defeat. To Henry Asbury, a friend who had 
 written him a cheerful letter admonishing him not to give 
 up the battle, he responded : 
 
 ''Springfield, November 19, 1858. 
 ''Mr. Henry Asbury, 
 
 "My Dear Sir: — Yours of the 13th was received some days 
 ago. The fight must go on. The cause of civil liberty mu st 
 not be surrendered at the end of one or even one hundred ae- 
 
 feats. Douglas had the ingenuity to be supported in the late 
 contest both as the best means to break down and to uphold 
 the slave interest. No ingenuity can keep these antagonistic 
 elements in harmony long. Another explosion will soon come. 
 
 "Yours truly, 
 
 "A. Lincoln." 
 
 To another friend (A. G. Henry) on the same day he 
 writes : "I am glad I made the late race. It gave me a hear- 
 ing on the great and durable questions of the age which I 
 could have had in no other way ; and though I now sink out 
 of view and shall be forgotten, I believe I have made some 
 marks which will tell for the cause of liberty long after I 
 am gone." 
 
 Before passing to later events in Mr. Lincoln's life it 
 is proper to include in this chapter, as a specimen of his 
 oratory at this time, his eloquent reference to the Declara- 
 tion of Independence found in a speech delivered at Beards- 
 
 9 Original footnote. 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 339 
 
 town, August 12, and not at Lewiston five days later, as 
 many biographers have it. Aside from its concise reason- 
 ing, the sublime thought it suggests entitles it to rank be- 
 side that great masterpiece, his Gettysburg address. After 
 alluding to the suppression by the Fathers of the Repub- 
 lic of the slave trade, he says : "These by their represen- 
 tatives in old Independence Hall said to the whole race of 
 men : 'We hold these truths to be self-evident : that all men 
 are created equal ; that they are endowed by their Creator 
 with certain inalienable rights ; that among these are life, 
 liberty, and the pursuit of happiness/ This was their 
 majestic interpretation of the economy of the universe. 
 This was their lofty, and wise, and noble understanding 
 of the justice of the Creator to his creatures — yes, gentle- 
 men, to all his creatures, to the whole great family of men. 
 In their enlightened belief, nothing stamped with the di- 
 vine image and likeness was sent into the world to be 
 trodden on and degraded and imbruted by its fellows. They 
 grasped not only the whole race of man then living, but 
 they reached forward and seized upon the farthest pos- 
 terity. They erected a beacon to guide their children, 
 and their children's children, and the countless myriads who 
 should inhabit the earth in other ages. Wise statesmen 
 as they were, they knew the tendency of prosperity to 
 breed tyrants, and so they established these great self- 
 evident truths, that when in the distant future some man, 
 some faction, some interest, should set up the doctrine 
 that none but rich men, none but white men, or none but 
 Anglo-Saxon white men were entitled to life, liberty, and 
 the pursuit of happiness, their posterity might look up 
 again to the Declaration of Independence and take cour- 
 age to renew the battle which their fathers began, so that 
 truth and justice and mercy and all the humane and Chris- 
 tian virtues might not be extinguished from the land; so 
 that no man would hereafter dare to limit and circumscribe 
 the great principles on which the temple of liberty was be- 
 ing built. 
 
 "Now, my countrymen, if you have been taught doc- 
 trines conflicting with the great landmarks of the Declara- 
 
340 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 tion of Independence; if you have listened to suggestions 
 which would take away from its grandeur and mutilate 
 the fair symmetry of its proportions ; if you have been in- 
 clined to believe that all men are not created equal in those 
 inalienable rights enumerated by our chart of liberty: let 
 me entreat you to come back. Return to the fountain 
 whose waters spring close by the blood of the Revolution. 
 Think nothing of me; take no thought for the political 
 fate of any man whomsoever, but come back to the truths 
 that are in the Declaration of Independence. You may do 
 anything with me you choose, if you will but heed these 
 sacred principles. You may not only defeat me for the 
 Senate, but you may take me and put me to death. While 
 pretending no indifference to earthly honors, I do claim 
 to be actuated in this contest by something higher than an 
 anxiety for office. I charge you to drop every paltry and 
 insignificant thought for any man's success. It is nothing ; 
 I am nothing; Judge Douglas is nothing. But do not 
 destroy that immortal emblem of humanity — the Declara- 
 tion of American Independence. ,, 
 
 One of the newspaper men (Horace White) who heard 
 this majestic oration wrote me as follows : "The apostrophe 
 to the Declaration of Independence to which you refer was 
 written by myself from a vivid recollection of Mr. Lincoln's 
 speech at Beardstown, August 12, 1858. On the day fol- 
 lowing the delivery of the speech, as Mr. Lincoln and I 
 were proceeding by steamer from Beardstown to Havana, 
 I said to him that I had been greatly impressed by his 
 concluding remarks of the day previous, and that if he 
 would write them out for me I felt confident their publi- 
 cation would be highly beneficial to our cause as well as 
 honorable to his own fame. He replied that he had but a 
 faint recollection of any portion of the speech; that, like 
 all his campaign speeches, it was necessarily extempora- 
 neous ; and that its good or bad effect depended upon the 
 inspiration of the moment. He added that I had probably 
 over-estimated the value of the remarks referred to. In 
 reply to my question whether he had any objection to my 
 writing them out from memory and putting them in the 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 341 
 
 form of a verbatim report, he said, 'None at all.' I ac- 
 cordingly did so. I felt confident then and I feel equally 
 assured now that I transcribed the peroration with abso- 
 lute fidelity as to ideas and commendable fidelity as to lan- 
 guage. I certainly aimed to reproduce his exact words, 
 and my recollection of the passage as spoken was very 
 clear. After I had finished writing I read it to Mr. Lin- 
 coln, When I had finished the reading he said, 'Well, 
 those are my views, and if I said anything on the subject 
 I must have said substantially that, but not nearly so well 
 as that is said/ I remember this remark quite distinctly, 
 and if the old steamer Editor is still in existence I could 
 show the place where we were sitting. Having secured 
 his assent to the publication I forwarded it to our paper, 
 but inasmuch as my report of the Beardstown meeting had 
 been already mailed I incorporated the remarks on the 
 Declaration of Independence in my letter from Lewiston 
 two or three days subsequently. ... I do not remember 
 ever having related these facts before, although they have 
 often recurred to me as I have seen the peroration resus- 
 citated again and again, and published (with good effect, 
 I trust) in the newspapers of this country and England. " 
 
CHAPTER FOURTEEN 
 
 BEFORE MR. LINCOLN SURRENDERS HIMSELF COMPLETELY 
 
 to the public — for it is apparent he is fast approaching the 
 great crisis of his career — it may not be entirely inappro- 
 priate to take a nearer and more personal view of him. A 
 knowledge of his personal views and actions, a glimpse 
 through the doorway of his home, and a more thorough 
 acquaintance with his marked and strong points as they 
 developed, will aid us greatly in forming our general esti- 
 mate of the man. When Mr. Lincoln entered the domain 
 of investigation he was a severe and persistent thinker, and 
 had wonderful endurance; hence he was abstracted, and 
 for that reason at times was somewhat unsocial, reticent, 
 and uncommunicative. After his marriage it cannot be said 
 that he liked the society of ladies; in fact, it was just what 
 he did not like, though one of his biographers says other- 
 wise. Lincoln had none of the tender ways that please a 
 woman, and he could not, it seemed, by any positive act 
 of his own make her happy. If his wife was happy, she was 
 naturally happy, or made herself so in spite of countless 
 drawbacks. He was, however, a good husband in his own 
 peculiar way, and in his own way only. 
 
 If exhausted from severe and long-continued thought, 
 he had to touch the earth again to renew his strength. When 
 this weariness set in he would stop thought, and get down 
 and play with a little dog or kitten to recover ; and when 
 the recovery came he would push it aside to play with its 
 own tail. He treated men and women in much the same 
 way. For fashionable society he had a marked dislike, 
 although he appreciated its value in promoting the welfare 
 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 343 
 
 of a man ambitious to succeed in politics. If he was 
 invited out to dine or to mingle in some social gathering, 
 and came in contact with the ladies, he treated them with 
 becoming politeness; but the consciousness of his short- 
 comings as a society man rendered him unusually diffident, 
 and at the very first opportunity he would have the men 
 separated from their ladies and crowded close around him 
 in one corner of the parlor, listening to one of his charac- 
 teristic stories. That a lady 1 as proud and as ambitious to 
 exercise the rights of supremacy in society as Mary Todd 
 should repent of her marriage to the man I have just de- 
 scribed surely need occasion no surprise in the mind of 
 anyone. Both she and the man whose hand she accepted 
 acted along the lines of human conduct, and both reaped 
 the bitter harvest of conjugal infelicity. In dealing with 
 Mr. Lincoln's home life perhaps I am revealing an ele- 
 ment of his character that has heretofore been kept from 
 the world; but in doing so I feel sure I am treading on 
 no person's toes, for all the actors in this domestic drama 
 are dead, and the world seems ready to hear the facts. 
 As his married life, in the opinion of all his friends, ex- 
 erted a peculiar influence over Mr. Lincoln's political career 
 there can be no impropriety, I apprehend, in throwing the 
 light on it now. Mrs. Lincoln's disposition and nature 
 have been dwelt upon in another chapter, and enough has 
 been told to show that one of her greatest misfortunes was 
 her inability to control her temper. Admit that, and every- 
 thing can be explained. However cold and abstracted her 
 husband may have appeared to others, however impressive, 
 when aroused, may have seemed his indignation in public, 
 he never gave vent to his feelings at home. He always 
 meekly accepted as final the authority of his wife in all 
 
 1 "Mrs. Lincoln," said Herndon, "was decidedly pro-slavery 
 in her views. One day she was invited to take a ride with a 
 neighboring family, some of whose members still reside in Spring- 
 field. 'If ever my husband dies/ she ejaculated during the ride, 
 'his spirit will never find me living outside the limits of a slave 
 State.' " 
 
344 LIFE 0F LINCOLN 
 
 matters of domestic concern. 2 This may explain somewhat 
 the statement of Judge Davis that, "as a general rule, when 
 all the lawyers of a Saturday evening would go home and 
 see their families and friends, Lincoln would find some 
 excuse and refuse to go. We said nothing, but it seemed 
 to us all he was not domestically happy." 3 He exercised 
 no government of any kind over his household. His 
 children did much as they pleased. Many of their antics 
 he approved, and he restrained them in nothing. He never 
 reproved them or gave them a fatherly frown. He was the 
 most indulgent parent I have ever known. He was in the 
 habit, when at home on Sunday, of bringing his two boys, 
 Willie and Thomas — or "Tad" — down to the office to re- 
 main while his wife attended church. He seldom accompa- 
 nied her there. The boys were absolutely unrestrained in 
 their amusement. If they pulled down all the books from 
 the shelves, bent the points of all the pens, overturned ink- 
 stands, scattered law-papers over the floor, or threw the 
 pencils into the spittoon, it never disturbed the serenity of 
 their father's good-nature. Frequently absorbed in thought, 
 he never observed their mischievous but destructive pranks 
 — as his unfortunate partner did, who thought much, but 
 said nothing — and, even if brought to his attention, he vir- 
 tually encouraged their repetition by declining to show any 
 substantial evidence of parental disapproval. After church 
 was over the boys and their father, climbing down the 
 office stairs, ruefully turned their steps homeward. They 
 mingled with the throngs of well-dressed people returning 
 from church, the majority of whom might well have won- 
 dered if the trio they passed were going to a fireside where 
 
 2 In a footnote to the original edition Herdon wrote in il- 
 lustration of this remark: "One day a man making some im- 
 provements in Lincoln's yard suggested to Mrs. Lincoln the 
 propriety of cutting down one of the trees, to which she willingly 
 assented. Before doing so, however, the man came down to 
 our office and consulted Lincoln himself about it. What did 
 Mrs. Lincoln say?' inquired the latter. 'She consented to have it 
 taken away.' Then, in God's name,' exclaimed Lincoln, 'cut it 
 down to the roots !' " 
 
 8 See p. 249 n. 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 345 
 
 love and white-winged peace reigned supreme. A near 
 relative of Mrs. Lincoln, in explanation of the unhappy 
 condition of things in that lady's household, offered this 
 suggestion : 
 
 "Mrs. Lincoln came of the best stock, and was raised 
 like a lady. Her husband was her opposite, in origin, in 
 education, in breeding, in everything; and it is therefore 
 quite natural that she should complain if he answered the 
 door-bell himself instead of sending the servant to do so ; 
 neither is she to be condemned if, as you say, she raised 
 'merry war' because he persisted in using his own knife in 
 the butter, instead of the silver-handled one intended for 
 that purpose/' Such want of social polish on the part of 
 her husband of course gave Mrs. Lincoln great offense, and 
 therefore in commenting on it she cared neither for time 
 nor place. Her frequent outbursts of temper precipitated 
 many an embarrassment from which Lincoln with great 
 difficulty extricated himself. 
 
 A lady relative who lived for two years with the Lin- 
 colns told me that Mr. Lincoln was in the habit of lying 
 on the floor with the back of a chair for a pillow when he 
 read. One evening, when in this position in the hall, a 
 knock was heard at the front door and although in his 
 shirt-sleeves he answered the call. Two ladies were at the 
 door whom he invited into the parlor, notifying them in 
 his open familiar way, that he would "trot the women folks 
 out." Mrs. Lincoln from an adjoining room witnessed the 
 ladies' entrance and overheard her husband's jocose expres- 
 sion. Her indignation was so instantaneous she made the 
 situation exceedingly interesting for him, and he was glad 
 to retreat from the mansion. He did not return till very 
 late at night and then slipped quietly in at a rear door.* 
 
 Mrs. Lincoln, on account of her peculiar nature, could 
 not long retain a servant in her employ. The sea was 
 never so placid but that a breeze would ruffle its waters. 
 She loved show and attention, and if, when she glorified 
 her family descent or indulged in one of her strange out- 
 breaks, the servant could simulate absolute obsequiousness 
 
 4 Original footnote. 
 
346 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 or had tact enough to encourage her social pretensions, 
 Mrs. Lincoln was for the time her firmest friend. One 
 servant, who adjusted herself to suit the lady's capricious 
 ways, lived with the family for several years. She told 
 me that at the time of the debate between Douglas and 
 Lincoln she often heard the latter's wife boast that she 
 would yet be mistress of the White House. The secret 
 of her ability to endure the eccentricities of her mistress 
 came out in the admission that Mr. Lincoln gave her an 
 extra dollar each week on condition that she would brave 
 whatever storms might arise, and suffer whatever might 
 befall her, without complaint. It was a rather severe con- 
 dition, but she lived rigidly up to her part of the contract. 
 The money was paid secretly and without the knowledge 
 of Mrs. Lincoln. Frequently, after tempestuous scenes 
 between the mistress and her servant, Lincoln at the first 
 opportunity would place his hand encouragingly on the 
 latter's shoulder with the admonition, "Mary, keep up your 
 courage.' ' It may not be without interest to add that the 
 servant afterwards married a man who enlisted in the 
 army. In the spring of 1865 his wife managed to reach 
 Washington to secure her husband's release from the 
 service. After some effort she succeeded in obtaining an 
 interview with the President. He was glad to see her, gave 
 her a basket of fruit, and directed her to call the next day 
 and obtain a pass through the lines and money to buy 
 clothes for herself and children. That night he was 
 assassinated. 
 
 The following letter to the editor of a newspaper in 
 Springfield will serve as a specimen of the perplexities 
 which frequently beset Mr. Lincoln when his wife came 
 in contact with others. What in this instance she said to 
 the paper carrier we do not know ; we can only intelligently 
 infer. I have no personal recollection of the incident, 
 although I knew the man to whom it was addressed quite 
 well. The letter only recently came to light. I insert it 
 without further comment. 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 347 
 
 [Private.] 
 
 "Springfield, III., February 20, 1857. 
 
 "John E. Rosette, Esq. 
 
 "Dear Sir : — Your note about the little paragraph in the 
 Republican was received yesterday, since which time I have 
 been too unwell to notice it. I had not supposed you wrote or 
 approved it. The whole originated in mistake. You know by 
 the conversation with me that I thought the establishment of 
 the paper unfortunate, but I always expected to throw no ob- 
 stacle in its way, and to patronize it to the extent of taking 
 and paying for one copy. When the paper was brought to 
 my house, my wife said to me, 'Now are you going to take 
 another worthless little paper V I said to her evasively, T 
 have not directed the paper to be left/ From this, in my ab- 
 sence, she sent the message to the carrier. This is the whole 
 story. 
 
 "Yours truly, 
 
 "A. Lincoln." 
 
 A man once called at the house to learn why Mrs. Lin- 
 coln had so unceremoniously discharged his niece from 
 her employ. Mrs. Lincoln met him at the door, and being 
 somewhat wrought up, gave vent to her feelings, resorting 
 to such violent gestures and emphatic language that the 
 man was glad to beat a hasty retreat. He at once started 
 out to find Lincoln, determined to exact from him proper 
 satisfaction for his wife's action. Lincoln was entertaining 
 a crowd in a store at the time. The man, still laboring 
 under some agitation, called him to the door and made the 
 demand. Lincoln listened for a moment to his story. "My 
 friend," he interrupted, "I regret to hear this, but let me 
 ask you in all candor, can't you endure for a few mo- 
 ments what I have had as my daily portion for the last 
 fifteen years ?" These words were spoken so mournfully 
 and with such a look of distress that the man was com- 
 pletely disarmed. It was a case that appealed to his feel- 
 ings. Grasping the unfortunate husband's hand, he ex- 
 pressed in no uncertain terms his sympathy, and even 
 apologized for having approached him. He said no more 
 
348 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 about the infuriated wife, and Lincoln afterward had no 
 better friend in Springfield. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln never had a confidant, and therefore never 
 unbosomed himself to others. He never spoke of his trials 
 to me or, so far as I knew, to any of his friends. It was 
 a great burden to carry, but he bore it sadly enough and 
 without a murmur. I could always realize when he was 
 in distress, without being told. He was not exactly an 
 early riser, that is, he never usually appeared at the office 
 till about nine o'clock in the morning. I usually preceded 
 him an hour. Sometimes, however, he would come down 
 as early as seven o'clock — in fact, on one occasion I re- 
 member he came down before daylight. If, on arriving 
 at the office, I found him in, I knew instantly that a breeze 
 had sprung up over the domestic sea, and that the waters 
 were troubled. He would either be lying on the lounge 
 looking skyward, or doubled up in a chair with his feet 
 resting on the sill of a back window. He would not look 
 up on my entering, and only answered my "Good morning" 
 with a grunt. I at once busied myself with pen and paper, 
 or ran through the leaves of some book ; but the evidence 
 of his melancholy and distress was so plain, and his silence 
 so significant, that I would grow restless myself, and 
 finding some excuse to go to the courthouse or elsewhere, 
 would leave the room. 
 
 The door of the office opening into a narrow hallway 
 was half glass, with a curtain on it working on brass rings 
 strung on wire. As I passed out on these occasions I 
 would draw the curtain across the glass, and before I 
 reached the bottom of the stairs I could hear the key turn 
 in the lock, and Lincoln was alone in his gloom. An hour 
 in the clerk's office at the courthouse, an hour longer in 
 a neighboring store having passed, I would return. By 
 that time either a client had dropped in and Lincoln was 
 propounding the law, or else the cloud of despondency had 
 passed away, and he was busy in the recital of an Indiana 
 story to whistle ofif the recollections of the morning's 
 gloom. Noon having arrived I would depart homeward 
 for my dinner. Returning within an hour, I would find 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 349 
 
 him still in the office, although his house stood but a few 
 squares away, — lunching on a slice of cheese and a handful 
 of crackers which, in my absence, he had brought up from 
 a store below. Separating for the day at five or six o'clock 
 in the evening, I would still leave him behind, either sit- 
 ting on a box at the foot of the stairway, entertaining a few 
 loungers, or killing time in the same way on the court- 
 house steps. A light in the office after dark attested his 
 presence there till late along in the night, when, after all 
 the world had gone to sleep, the tall form of the man 
 destined to be the nation's President could have been seen 
 strolling along in the shadows of trees and buildings, and 
 quietly slipping in through the door of a modest frame 
 house, which it pleased the world, in a conventional way, 
 to call his home. 
 
 Some persons may insist that this picture is too highly 
 colored. If so, I can only answer, they do not know the 
 facts. The majority of those who have a personal knowl- 
 edge of them are persistent in their silence. If their lips 
 could be opened and all could be known, my conclusions 
 and statements, to say the least of them, would be found to 
 be fair, reasonable, and true. A few words more as to 
 Lincoln's domestic history, and I pass to a different phase 
 of his life. One of his warmest and closest friends, who 
 still survives, maintains the theory that, after all, Lincoln's 
 political ascendency and final elevation to the Presidency 
 were due more to the influence of his wife than to any 
 other person or cause. "The fact," insists this friend, 
 "that Mary Todd, by her turbulent nature and unfortunate 
 manner, prevented her husband from becoming a domestic 
 man, operated largely in his favor; for he was thereby 
 kept out in the world of business and politics. Instead of 
 spending his evenings at home, reading the papers and 
 warming his toes at his own fireside, he was constantly out 
 with the common people, was mingling with the poli- 
 ticians, discussing public questions with the farmers 
 who thronged the offices in the courthouse and state house, 
 and exchanging views with the loungers who surrounded 
 the stove of winter evenings in the village store. The re- 
 
350 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 suit of this continuous contact with the world was, that he 
 was more thoroughly known than any other man in his 
 community. His wife, therefore, was one of the unin- 
 tentional means of his promotion. If, on the other hand, he 
 had married some less ambitious but more domestic 
 woman, some honest farmer's quiet daughter, — one who 
 would have looked up to and worshipped him because he 
 uplifted her, — the result might have been different. For, 
 although it doubtless would have been her pride to see that 
 he had clean clothes whenever he needed them; that his 
 slippers were always in their place; that he was warmly 
 clad and had plenty to eat ; and, although the privilege of 
 ministering to his every wish and whim might have been 
 to her a pleasure rather than a duty ; yet I fear he would 
 have been buried in the pleasures of a loving home, and the 
 country would never have had Abraham Lincoln for its 
 President." 
 
 In her domestic troubles I have always sympathized 
 with Mrs. Lincoln. The world does not know what she 
 bore, or how ill-adapted she was to bear it. Her fearless, 
 witty, and austere nature shrank instinctively from asso- 
 ciation with the calm, imperturbable, and simple ways of 
 her thoughtful and absent-minded husband. Besides, who 
 knows but she may have acted out in her conduct toward 
 her husband the laws of human revenge? The picture 
 of that eventful evening in 1841, when she stood at the 
 Edwards mansion clad in her bridal robes, the feast pre- 
 pared and the guests gathered, and when the bridegroom 
 came not, may have been constantly before her, and 
 prompted her to a course of action which kept in the back- 
 ground the better elements of her nature. In marrying 
 Lincoln she did not look so far into the future as Mary 
 Owens, who declined his proposal because "he was defi- 
 cient in those little links which make up the chain of 
 woman's happiness." 6 
 
 Mrs. Lincoln died at the residence of her sister Mrs. 
 Ninian W. Edwards, in Springfield, July 16, 1882. Dr. 
 Thomas W. Dresser, her physician during her last illness, 
 
 5 See Editor's Preface, p. xliv. 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 351 
 
 says this of her: "In the late years of her life certain 
 mental peculiarities were developed which finally cul- 
 minated in a slight apoplexy, producing paralysis, of which 
 she died. Among the peculiarities alluded to, one of the 
 most singular was the habit she had during the last year 
 or so of her life of immuring herself in a perfectly dark 
 room and, for light, using a small candle-light, even when 
 the sun was shining bright out-of-doors. No urging would 
 induce her to go out into the fresh air. Another peculi- 
 arity was the accumulation of large quantities of silks and 
 dress goods in trunks and by the cart-load, which she never 
 used and which accumulated until it was really feared that 
 the floor of the store-room would give way. She was 
 bright and sparkling in conversation, and her memory re- 
 mained singularly good up to the very close of her life. 
 Her face was animated and pleasing; and to me she was 
 always an interesting woman ; and while the whole world 
 was finding fault with her temper and disposition, it was 
 clear to me that the trouble was really a cerebral disease." * 
 
 By reason of his practical turn of mind Mr. Lincoln 
 never speculated any more in the scientific and philosophi- 
 cal than he did in the financial world. He never undertook 
 to fathom the intricacies of psychology and metaphysics. 
 Investigation into first causes, abstruse mental phenomena, 
 the science of being, he brushed aside as trash — mere 
 scientific absurdities. He discovered through experience 
 that his mind, like the minds of other men, had its limita- 
 tions, and hence he economized his forces and his time by 
 applying his powers in the field of the practical. Scien- 
 tifically regarded he was a realist as opposed to an idealist, 
 a sensationist as opposed to an intuitionist, a materialist 
 as opposed to a spiritualist. 
 
 In the words of Joseph Gillespie, "He was contemplative 
 rather than speculative. He wanted something solid to rest 
 upon, and hence his bias for mathematics and the physical 
 sciences. He bestowed more attention on them than upon 
 metaphysical speculations. I have heard him descant upon 
 the problem whether a ball discharged from a gun in a 
 
 6 Original footnote. 
 
352 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 horizontal position would be longer in reaching the ground 
 than one dropped at the instant of discharge from the 
 muzzle. He said it always appeared to him that they would 
 both reach the ground at the same time, even before he had 
 read the philosophical explanation/ ' 7 
 
 There was more or less superstition in his nature, and, 
 although he may not have believed implicity in the signs of 
 his many dreams, he was constantly endeavoring to unravel 
 them. His mind was readily impressed with some of the 
 most absurd superstitions. His visit to the Voodoo for- 
 tune-teller in New Orleans in 1831 ; his faith in the virtues 
 of the mad-stone, when he took his son Robert to Terre 
 Haute, Indiana, to be cured of the bite of a rabid dog ; and 
 the strange double image of himself which he told his 
 secretary, John Hay, he saw reflected in a mirror just after 
 his election in 1860, strongly attest his inclination to super- 
 stition. He held most firmly to the doctrine of fatalism all 
 his life. His wife, after his death, told me what I already 
 knew, that "his only philosophy was, what is to be will be, 
 and no prayers of ours can reverse the decree." He al- 
 ways contended that he was doomed to a sad fate, and he 
 repeatedly said to me when we were alone in our office : 
 "I am sure I shall meet with some terrible end." In proof 
 of his strong leaning towards fatalism he once quoted the 
 case of Brutus and Caesar, arguing that the former was 
 forced by laws and conditions over which he had no 
 control to kill the latter, and, vice versa, that the latter 
 was specially created to be disposed of by the former. This 
 superstitious view of life ran through his being like the 
 thin blue vein through the whitest marble, giving the eye 
 rest from the weariness of continued unvarying color. 8 
 
 In 1856 I purchased in New York a life of Edmund 
 Burke. I have forgotten now who the author was, but I 
 remember I read it through in a short time. One morning 
 
 7 Ibid, 
 
 8 In a footnote in the original edition Herndon said that he 
 had heard Lincoln frequently quote the couplet, 
 
 "There's a divinity that shapes our ends, 
 Rough-hew them as we will." 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 353 
 
 Lincoln came into the office and, seeing the book in my 
 hands, inquired what I was reading. I told him, at the 
 same time observing that it was an excellent work and 
 handing the book over to him. Taking it in his hand he 
 threw himself down on the office sofa and hastily ran over 
 its pages, reading a little here and there. At last he closed 
 and threw it on the table with the exclamation, "No, I've 
 read enough of it. It's like all the others. Biographies 
 as generally written are not only misleading, but false. 
 The author of this life of Burke makes a wonderful hero 
 out of his subject. He magnifies his perfections — if he 
 had any — and suppresses his imperfections. He is so faith- 
 ful in his zeal and so lavish in praise of his every act that 
 one is almost driven to believe that Burke never made a 
 mistake or a failure in his life." He lapsed into a brown 
 study, but presently broke out again, "Billy, I've wondered 
 why book-publishers and merchants don't have blank biog- 
 raphies on their shelves, always ready for an emergency; 
 so that, if a man happens to die, his heirs or his friends, 
 if they wish to perpetuate his memory, can purchase one 
 already written, but with blanks. These blanks they can 
 at their pleasure fill up with rosy sentences full of high- 
 sounding praise. In most instances they commemorate a 
 lie, and cheat posterity out of the truth. History," he con- 
 cluded, "is not history unless it is the truth." This em- 
 phatic avowal of sentiment from Mr. Lincoln not only fixes 
 his estimate of ordinary biography, but is my vindication in 
 advance if assailed for telling the truth. 9 
 
 For many years I subscribed for and kept on our office 
 table the Westminster and Edinburgh Review and a num- 
 ber of other English periodicals. Besides them I pur- 
 chased the works of Spencer, Darwin, and the utterances 
 of other English scientists, all of which I devoured with 
 great relish. I endeavored, but had little success in induc- 
 ing Lincoln to read them. Occasionally he would snatch 
 one up and peruse it for a little while, but he soon threw it 
 down with the suggestion that it was entirely too heavy for 
 an ordinary mind to digest. A gentleman in Springfield 
 
 9 Original footnote. 
 
354 LIFE 0F LINCOLN 
 
 gave him a book called, I believe, ''Vestiges of Creation," 
 which interested him so much that he read it through. The 
 volume was published in Edinburgh, and undertook to 
 demonstrate the doctrine of development or evolution. 
 The treatise interested him greatly, and he was deeply im- 
 pressed with the notion of the so-called "universal law" — 
 evolution ; he did not extend greatly his researches, but by 
 continued thinking in a single channel seemed to grow into 
 a warm advocate of the new doctrine. Beyond what I have 
 stated he made no further investigation into the realm of 
 philosophy. "There are no accidents," he said one day, 
 "in my philosophy. Every effect must have its cause. 
 The past is the cause of the present, and the present will 
 be the cause of the future. All these are links in the end- 
 less chain stretching from the finite to the infinite." From 
 what has been said it would follow logically that he did not 
 believe, except in a very restricted sense, in the freedom 
 of the will. We often argued the question, I taking the 
 opposite view; he changed the expression, calling it the 
 freedom of the mind, and insisted that man always acted 
 from a motive. I once contended that man was free and 
 could act without a motive. He smiled at my philosophy, 
 and answered that it was impossible, because the motive 
 was born before the man. 
 
 The foregoing thoughts are prefatory to the much- 
 mooted question of Mr. Lincoln's religious belief. For 
 what I have heretofore said on this subject, both in public 
 lectures and in letters which have frequently found their 
 way into the newspapers, I have been freely and sometimes 
 bitterly assailed, but I do not intend now to reopen the 
 discussion or to answer the many persons who have risen 
 up and asked to measure swords with me. I merely pur- 
 pose to state the bare facts, expressing no opinion of my 
 own, and allowing each and every one to put his or her 
 construction on them. 
 
 Inasmuch as he was so often a candidate for public of- 
 fice Mr. Lincoln said as little about his religious opinions 
 as possible, especially if he failed to coincide with the 
 orthodox world. In illustration of his religious code I 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 355 
 
 once heard him say that it was like that of an old man 
 named Glenn, in Indiana, whom he heard speak at a 
 church meeting, and who said: "When I do good I feel 
 good, when I do bad I feel bad, and that's my religion/' 
 In 1834, while still living in New Salem and before he 
 became a lawyer, he was surrounded by a class of people 
 exceedingly liberal in matters of religion. Volney's 
 Ruins and Payne's Age of Reason passed from hand 
 to hand, and furnished food for the evening's discussion 
 in the tavern and village store. Lincoln read both these 
 books and thus assimilated them into his own being. He 
 prepared an extended essay — called by many, a book — in 
 which he made an argument against Christianity, striving 
 to prove that the Bible was not inspired, and therefore 
 not God's revelation, and that Jesus Christ was not the 
 son of God. The manuscript containing these audacious 
 and comprehensive propositions he intended to have pub- 
 lished or given a wide circulation in some other way. He 
 carried it to the store, where it was read and freely dis- 
 cussed. His friend and employer, Samuel Hill, was among 
 the listeners, and, seriously questioning the propriety of 
 a promising young man like Lincoln fathering such un- 
 popular notions, he snatched the manuscript from his 
 hands and thrust it into the stove. The book went up in 
 flames, and Lincoln's political future was secure. But 
 his infidelity and his skeptical views were not diminished. 
 He soon removed to Springfield, where he attracted con- 
 siderable notice by his rank doctrine. Much of what he 
 then said may properly be credited to the impetuosity and 
 exuberance of youth. One of his closest friends, whose 
 name is withheld, narrating scenes and reviewing discus- 
 sions that in 1838 took place in the office of the county 
 clerk, says: "Sometimes Lincoln bordered on atheism. 
 He went far that way, and shocked me. I was then a 
 young man, and believed what my good mother told me. 
 . . . He would come into the clerk's office where I and 
 some young men were writing and staying, and would 
 bring the Bible with him ; would read a chapter and argue 
 against it. . . . Lincoln was enthusiastic in his infidelity. 
 
356 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 As he grew older he grew more discreet ; didn't talk much 
 before strangers about his religion ; but to friends, close 
 and bosom ones, he was always open and avowed, fair 
 and honest; to strangers, he held them off from policy." 
 John T. Stuart, who was Lincoln's first partner, substan- 
 tially endorses the above. "He was an avowed and open 
 infidel," declares Stuart, "and sometimes bordered on 
 atheism; . . . went further against Christian beliefs and 
 doctrines and principles than any man I ever heard ; he 
 shocked me. I don't remember the exact line of his ar- 
 gument ; suppose it was against the inherent defects, so- 
 called, of the Bible, and on grounds of reason. Lincoln 
 always denied that Jesus was the Christ of God — denied 
 that Jesus was the son of God as understood and main- 
 tained by the Christian Church." David Davis tells us 
 this: "The idea that Lincoln talked to a stranger about 
 his religion or religious views, or made such speeches and 
 remarks about it as are published, is to me absurd. I 
 knew the man so well ; he was the most reticent, secretive 
 man I ever saw or expect to see. He had no faith, in the 
 Christian sense of the term — had faith in laws, principles, 
 causes and effects." Another man (William H. Hannah) 
 testifies as follows: "Mr. Lincoln told me that he was a 
 kind of immortalist; that he never could bring himself to 
 believe in eternal punishment; that man lived but a little 
 while here; and that if eternal punishment were man's 
 doom, he should spend that little life in vigilant and cease- 
 less preparation by never-ending prayer." Another inti- 
 mate friend (I. W. Keys) furnishes this: "In my inter- 
 course with Mr. Lincoln I learned that he believed in a 
 Creator of all things, who had neither beginning nor end, 
 possessing all power and wisdom, established a principle in 
 obedience to which worlds move and are upheld, and ani- 
 mal and vegetable life come into existence. A reason he 
 gave for his belief was that in view of the order and har- 
 mony of all nature which we behold, it would have been 
 more miraculous to have come about by chance than to have 
 been created and arranged by some great thinking power. 
 As to the Christian theory that Christ is God or equal to 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 357 
 
 the Creator, he said that it had better be taken for granted ; 
 for by the test of reason we might become infidels on that 
 subject, for evidence of Christ's divinity came to us in a 
 somewhat doubtful shape; but that the system of Chris- 
 tianity was an ingenious one at least, and perhaps was cal- 
 culated to do good." Jesse W. Fell, to whom Lincoln first 
 confided the details of his biography, furnishes a more elab- 
 orate account of the latter's religious views than anyone 
 else. In a statement made September 22, 1870, Fell says: 
 "If there were any traits of character that stood out in 
 bold relief in the person of Mr. Lincoln they were those 
 of truth and candor. He was utterly incapable of insin- 
 cerity or professing views on this or any other subject he 
 did not entertain. Knowing such to be his true character, 
 that insincerity, much more duplicity, were traits wholly 
 foreign to his nature, many of his old friends were not a 
 little surprised at finding in some of the biographies of 
 this great man statements concerning his religious opinions 
 so utterly at variance with his known sentiments. True, 
 he may have changed or modified these sentiments 10 after 
 his removal from among us, though this is hardly recon- 
 cilable with the history of the man, and his entire devotion 
 to public matters during his four years' residence at the 
 national capital. It is possible, however, that this may be 
 the proper solution of this conflict of opinions ; or it may 
 be that, with no intention on the part of any one to mis- 
 lead the public mind, those who have represented him as 
 believing in the popular theological views of the times may 
 10 In the original edition Herndon printed the following letter 
 as a footnote: 
 
 "Executive Mansion, Washington, May 27, 1865. 
 "Friend Herndon : 
 
 "Mr. Lincoln did not to my knowledge in any way change his 
 religious ideas, opinions, or beliefs from the time he left Spring- 
 field to the day of his death. I do not know just what they 
 were, never having heard him explain them in detail ; but I 
 am very sure he gave no outward indication of his mind having 
 undergone any change in that regard while here. 
 "Yours truly, 
 
 "J no. G. Nicolay." 
 
358 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 have misapprehended him, as experience shows to be 
 quite common where no special effort has been made to 
 attain critical accuracy on a subject of this nature. This 
 is the more probable from the well-known fact, that Mr. 
 Lincoln seldom communicated to any one his views on this 
 subject ; but be this as it may, I have no hesitation what- 
 ever in saying that whilst he held many opinions in com- 
 mon with the great mass of Christian believers, he did 
 not believe in what are regarded as the orthodox or evan- 
 gelical views of Christianity. 
 
 "On the innate depravity of man, the character and of- 
 fice of the great Head of the Church, the atonement, the 
 infallibility of the written revelation, the performance of 
 miracles, the nature and design of present and future re- 
 wards and punishments (as they are popularly called), 
 and many other subjects he held opinions utterly at va- 
 riance with what are usually taught in the Church. I 
 should say that his expressed views on these and kindred 
 topics were such as, in the estimation of most believers, 
 would place him outside the Christian pale. Yet, to my 
 mind, such was not the true position, since his principles 
 and practices and the spirit of his whole life were of the 
 very kind we universally agree to call Christian ; and I 
 think this conclusion is in no wise affected by the circum- 
 stance that he never attached himself to any religious 
 society whatever. 
 
 "His religious views were eminently practical, and are 
 summed up, as I think, in these two propositions: the 
 Fatherhood of God, and the brotherhood of man. He 
 fully believed in a superintending and overruling Provi- 
 dence that guides and controls the operations of the world, 
 but maintained that law and order, and not their violation 
 or suspension, are the appointed means by which this 
 Providence is exercised. 11 
 
 31 "A convention of preachers held, I think, at Philadelphia/' 
 wrote John D. Defrees in a letter to Herndon, December 4, 1866, 
 "passed a resolution asking him to recommend to Congress an 
 amendment to the Constitution directly recognizing the existence of 
 God. The first draft of his message prepared after this resolution 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 359 
 
 "I will not attempt any specification of either his belief 
 or disbelief on various religious topics, as derived from 
 the conversations with him at different times during a con- 
 siderable period ; but as conveying a general view of his 
 religious or theological opinions, will state the following 
 facts. Some eight or ten years prior to his death, in con- 
 versing with him upon this subject, the writer took oc- 
 casion to refer, in terms of approbation, to the sermons 
 and writings generally of Dr. W. E. Channing; and, find- 
 ing he was considerably interested in the statement I made 
 of the opinions held by that author, I proposed to pre- 
 sent him (Lincoln) a copy of Channing's entire works, 
 which I soon after did. Subsequently the contents of 
 these volumes, together with the writings of Theodore 
 Parker, furnished him, as he informed me, by his friend 
 and law partner, William H. Herndon, became naturally 
 the topics of conversation with us ; and, though far from 
 believing there was an entire harmony of views on his 
 part with either of those authors, yet they were generally 
 much admired and approved by him. 
 
 "No religious views with him seemed to find any favor 
 except of the practical and rationalistic order ; and if, from 
 my recollections on this subject, I was called upon to des- 
 ignate an author whose views most nearly represented 
 Mr. Lincoln's on this subject, I would say that author 
 was Theodore Parker." 
 
 The last witness to testify before this case is submitted 
 to the reader is no less a person that Mrs. Lincoln herself. 
 In a statement made at a time and under circumstances 
 detailed in a subsequent chapter she said this : "Mr. Lin- 
 coln had no faith and no hope in the usual acceptation of 
 those words. He never joined a Church; but still, as I 
 believe, he was a religious man by nature. He first 
 seemed to think about the subject when our boy Willie 
 died, and then more than ever about the time he went 
 
 was sent him did contain a paragraph calling the attention of 
 Congress to the subject. When I assisted him in reading the 
 proof he struck it out, remarking that he had not made up his 
 mind as to its propriety." 
 
360 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 to Gettysburg; but it was a kind of poetry in his nature, 
 and he was never a technical Christian." 
 
 No man had a stronger or firmer faith in Providence — 
 God — than Mr. Lincoln, but the continued use by him late 
 in life of the word God must not be interpreted to mean 
 that he believed in a personal God. In 1854 he asked me 
 to erase the word God from a speech which I had written 
 and read to him for criticism because my language indi- 
 cated a personal God, whereas he insisted no such person- 
 ality ever existed. 
 
 My own testimony, however, in regard to Mr. Lincoln's 
 religious views may perhaps invite discussion. The world 
 has always insisted on making an orthodox Christian of 
 him, and to analyze his sayings or sound his beliefs is but 
 to break the idol. It only remains to say that, whether 
 orthodox or not, he believed in God and immortality ; and 
 even if he questioned the existence of future eternal pun- 
 ishment he hoped to find a rest from trouble and a heaven 
 beyond the grave. If at any time in his life he was skep- 
 tical of the divine origin of the Bible he ought not 
 for that reason to be condemned ; for he accepted the prac- 
 tical precepts of that great book as binding alike upon his 
 head and his conscience. The benevolence of his impulses, 
 the seriousness of his convictions, and the nobility of his 
 character are evidences unimpeachable that his soul was 
 ever filled with the exalted purity and sublime faith of 
 natural religion. 
 
CHAPTER FIFTEEN 
 
 THE RESULT OF THE CAMPAIGN OF 1858 WROUGHT MORE 
 
 disaster to Lincoln's finances than to his political pros- 
 pects. The loss of over six months from his business, and 
 the expenses of the canvass, made a severe drain on his per- 
 sonal income. He was anxious to get back to the law 
 once more and earn a little ready money. A letter written 
 about this time to his friend Norman B. Judd, Chairman 
 of the Republican State Committee, will serve to throw 
 some light on the situation he found himself in. "I have 
 been on expenses so long, without earning anything," he 
 says, "that I am absolutely without money now for even 
 household expenses. Still, if you can put in $250 for me 
 towards discharging the debt of the committee, I will 
 allow it when you and I settle the private matter between 
 us. This, with what I have already paid, with an out- 
 standing note of mine, will exceed my subscription of 
 $500. This, too, is exclusive of my ordinary expenses 
 during the campaign, all of which, being added to my loss 
 of time and business, bears pretty heavily upon one no 
 better off than I am. But as I had the post of honor, it 
 is not for me to be over-nice. " At the time this letter 
 was written his property consisted of the house and lot 
 on which he lived, a few law books and some household 
 furniture. He owned a small tract of land in Iowa which 
 yielded him nothing, and the annual income from his law 
 practice did not exceed $3,000; yet the party's committee 
 in Chicago were dunning their late standard-bearer, who, 
 besides the chagrin of his defeat, his own expenses, and 
 the sacrifice of his time, was asked to aid in meeting the 
 general expenses of the campaign. At this day one is 
 
362 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 a little surprised that some of the generous and wealthy 
 members of the party in Chicago or elsewhere did not 
 come forward and volunteer their aid. But they did not, 
 and whether Lincoln felt in his heart the injustice of this 
 treatment or not, he went straight ahead in his own path 
 and said nothing about it. 1 
 
 Political business being off his hands, he now conceived 
 the idea of entering the lecture field. He began prepara- 
 tions in the usual way by noting down ideas on stray 
 pieces of paper, which found a lodgment inside his hat, 
 and finally brought forth in connected form a lecture on 
 "Inventions." He recounted the wonderful improvements 
 in machinery, the arts, and sciences. Now and then he 
 indulged in a humorous paragraph, and witticisms were 
 freely sprinkled throughout the lecture. During the win- 
 ter he delivered it at several towns in the central part of 
 the State, but it was so commonplace, and met with such 
 indifferent success, that he soon dropped it altogether. 
 The effort met with the disapproval of his friends, and 
 he himself was filled with disgust. If his address in 1852, 
 over the death of Clay, proved that he was no eulogist, 
 then this last effort demonstrated that he was no lecturer. 
 Invitations to deliver the lecture — prompted no doubt by 
 the advertisement given him in the contest with Douglas — 
 came in very freely ; but beyond the three attempts named, 
 he declined them all. "Press of business in the courts'' 
 afforded him a convenient excuse, and he retired from 
 the field. On March 28, 1859 he wrote W. M. Morris: 
 "Your kind note inviting me to deliver a lecture at Gales- 
 burg is received. I regret to say I cannot do so now; 
 I must stick to the courts awhile. I read a sort of lec- 
 ture to three different audiences during the last month 
 and this ; but I did so under circumstances which made it 
 a waste of no time whatever." 
 
 1 At the time Lincoln wrote Judd he held the notes of eight 
 different persons for an amount totalling $3,000. He owned a 
 lot in the town of Lincoln, forty acres in Iowa, and his own 
 home, worth not less than $3,000. His personal account at the 
 Springfield Marine and Fire Insurance Company showed a balance 
 of $360.00. See Bulletin No. 16, the Abraham Lincoln Association. 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 363 
 
 "As we were going to Danville court," wrote Henry 
 C. Whitney, August 27, 1867, "I read to Lincoln a lecture 
 by Bancroft on the wonderful progress of man, delivered 
 in the preceding November. Sometime later he told us — 
 Swett and me — that he had been thinking much on the 
 subject and believed he would write a lecture on 'Man and 
 His Progress.' Afterwards I read in a paper that he had 
 come to either Bloomington or Clinton to lecture and 
 no one turned out. The paper added, 'That doesn't look 
 much like his being President.' I once joked him about 
 it ; he said good-naturedly, 'Don't ; that plagues me.' " 2 
 
 During the fall of 1859 invitations to take part in the 
 canvass came from over half-a-dozen States where elec- 
 tions were to be held. Douglas, fresh from the Senate, 
 had gone to Ohio, and thither in September Lincoln, in 
 response to the demands of party friends everywhere, fol- 
 lowed. He delivered telling and impressive speeches at 
 Cincinnati 3 and Columbus, following Douglas at both 
 
 2 So far as it is possible to discover now, Lincoln's first lecture 
 was delivered in Bloomington on April 6, 1858. The local editor 
 said of it: "The first half of the lecture displayed great research 
 and a careful study of the Bible. . . . The latter half was brimful 
 of original thought." On February 11, 1859, he lectured in Jack- 
 sonville, and on the 21st of the same month in Springfield. During 
 March he spoke again, but the time and place are unknown. It 
 was on April 8, 1859, when he was scheduled to speak at Bloom- 
 ington, that so few attended that the engagement was cancelled. 
 On April 26, 1859, the lecture was delivered for the last time at 
 Cook's Hall, Springfield. 
 
 Herndon used Whitney's reminiscence and Lincoln's letter to 
 Morris as footnotes. 
 
 3 In a footnote in the original edition Herndon printed the 
 following extract from an article by William M. Dickson in 
 Harpers Magazine for June, 1884. Dickson, who lived in Cin- 
 cinnati, had married a cousin of Mrs. Lincoln, and almost certainly 
 entertained Lincoln at the time of the well-known Reaper trial. 
 "He returned to the city two years after with a fame as wide 
 as the continent, with the laurels of the Douglas contest on his 
 brow, and the Presidency in his grasp. He returned greeted 
 with the thunder of cannon, the strains of martial music, and 
 the joyous plaudits of thousands of citizens thronging the streets. 
 He addressed a vast concourse on Fifth Street Market; was 
 entertained in princely style at the Burnet House, and there 
 
364 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 places. Douglas had written a long and carefully pre- 
 pared article on "Popular Sovereignty in the Territories," 
 which appeared for the first time in the September (1859) 
 number of Harper's Magazine. It went back some dis- 
 tance into the history of the government, recounting the 
 proceedings of the earliest Congresses, and sought to mark 
 out more clearly than had heretofore been done "the di- 
 viding line between Federal and Local authority." In a 
 speech at Columbus, O., Lincoln answered the "copy-right 
 essay" categorically. After alluding to the difference of 
 position between himself and Judge Douglas on the doc- 
 trine of Popular Sovereignty, he said : "Judge Douglas has 
 had a good deal of trouble with Popular Sovereignty. His 
 explanations, explanatory of explanations explained, are 
 interminable. The most lengthy and, as I suppose, the 
 most maturely considered of his long series of explana- 
 tions is his great essay in Harper's Magazine." He made 
 such a favorable impression among his Ohio friends that, 
 after a glorious Republican victory, the State committee 
 
 received with courtesy the foremost citizens come to greet this 
 rising star. With high hope and happy heart he left Cincinnati 
 after a three days' sojourn. But a perverse fortune attended him 
 and Cincinnati in their intercourse. Nine months after Mr. Lin- 
 coln left us, after he had been nominated for the Presidency, 
 when he was tranquilly waiting in his cottage home at Spring- 
 field the verdict of the people, his last visit to Cincinnati and 
 the good things he had had at the Burnet House were rudely 
 brought to his memory by a bill presented to him from its pro- 
 prietors. Before leaving the hotel he had applied to the clerk 
 for his bill; was told that it was paid, or words to that effect. 
 This the committee had directed, but afterwards neglected its 
 payment. The proprietors shrewdly surmised that a letter to 
 the nominee for the Presidency would bring the money. The 
 only significance in this incident is in the letter it brought from 
 Mr. Lincoln, revealing his indignation at the seeming imputation 
 against his honor, and his greater indignation at one item of the 
 bill. 'As to wines, liquors, and cigars, we had none, absolutely 
 none. These last may have been in Room 15 by order of com- 
 mittee, but I do not recollect them at all ! ' " This letter, which 
 was written to Dickson, may be found in Angle, New Letters and 
 Papers of Lincoln, pp. 247-48. 
 
 The paragraph to which this note is appended contains two 
 passages which were originally footnotes. 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 365 
 
 asked the privilege of publishing his speeches, along with 
 those of Douglas, to be used and distributed as a campaign 
 document. This request he especially appreciated, because 
 after some effort he had failed to induce any publisher 
 in Springfield to undertake the enterprise, thus proving 
 anew that "a prophet is not without honor, save in his 
 own country." A gentleman is still living, who at the time 
 of the debate between Lincoln and Douglas, was a book 
 publisher in Springfield. Lincoln had collected newspaper 
 slips of all the speeches made during the debate, and pro- 
 posed to him their publication in book form ; but the man 
 declined, fearing there would be no demand for such a 
 book. Subsequently, when the speeches were gotten out 
 in book form in Ohio, Mr. Lincoln procured a copy and 
 gave it to his Springfield friend, writing on the fly-leaf, 
 "Compliments of A. Lincoln." 
 
 In December he [Lincoln] visited Kansas, speaking at 
 Atchison, Troy, Leavenworth, and other towns near the 
 border. His speeches there served to extend his reputa- 
 tion still further westward. Though his arguments were 
 repetitions of the doctrine laid down in the contest with 
 Douglas, yet they were new to the majority of his Kansas 
 hearers and were enthusiastically approved. By the close 
 of the year he was back again in the dingy law office in 
 Springfield. 
 
 How Mr. Lincoln stood on the questions of the hour, 
 after his defeat by Douglas, is clearly shown in a letter 
 written on the 14th of May, 1859, to a friend in Kansas 
 (Mark W. Delahay), who had forwarded him an invi- 
 tation to attend a Republican convention there. "You will 
 probably adopt resolutions," he writes, " in the nature of 
 a platform. I think the only danger will be the tempta- 
 tion to lower the Republican standard in order to gather 
 recruits. In my judgment such a step would be a serious 
 mistake, and open a gap through which more would pass 
 out than pass in. And this would be the same whether the 
 letting down should be in deference to Douglasism or to 
 the Southern opposition element; either would surrender 
 the object of the Republican organization — the preventing 
 
366 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 of the spread and nationalization of slavery. This object 
 surrendered, the organization would go to pieces. I do 
 not mean by this that no Southern man must be placed 
 upon our national ticket for 1860. There are many men 
 in the slave states for any one of whom I could cheerfully 
 vote, to be either President or Vice-President, provided 
 he would enable me to do so with safety to the Republi- 
 can cause, without lowering the Republican standard. This 
 is the indispensable condition of a union with us ; it is idle 
 to talk of any other. Any other would be as fruitless to 
 the South as distasteful to the North, the whole ending in 
 common defeat. Let a union be attempted on the basis 
 of ignoring the slavery question, and magnifying other 
 questions which the people are just now caring about, and 
 it will result in gaining no single electoral vote in the 
 South, and losing every one in the North." d 
 
 The opening of the year 1860 found Mr. Lincoln's name 
 freely mentioned in connection with the Republican nom- 
 ination for the Presidency. To be classed with Seward, 
 Chase, McLean, and other celebrities was enough to stim- 
 ulate any Illinois lawyer's pride; but in Mr. Lincoln's 
 case, if it had any such effect, he was most artful in con- 
 cealing it. Now and then some ardent friend, an editor, 
 for example, would run his name up to the mast-head, 
 but in all cases he discouraged the attempt. "In regard 
 to the matter you spoke of," he answered one man 
 (Thomas J. Pickett) who proposed his name, "I beg that 
 you will not give it further mention. Seriously, I do 
 not think I am fit for the Presidency." 
 
 The first effort in his behalf as a Presidential aspirant 
 was the action taken by his friends at a meeting held in the 
 State House early in 1860, in the rooms of O. M. Hatch, 
 then Secretary of State. Besides Hatch there were pres- 
 ent Norman B. Judd, chairman of the Republican State 
 Committee, Ebenezer Peck, Jackson Grimshaw, and others 
 of equal prominence in the party. "We all expressed a per- 
 sonal preference for Mr. Lincoln," relates one who was a 
 participant in the meeting (Jackson Grimshaw), "as the 
 
 4 Original footnote. 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 367 
 
 Illinois candidate for the Presidency, and asked him if his 
 name might be used at once in connection with the nomina- 
 tion and election. With his characteristic modesty he 
 doubted whether he could get the nomination even if he 
 wished it, and asked until the next morning to answer us 
 whether his name might announced. Late the next day 
 he authorized us, if we thought proper to do so, to place 
 him in the field." To the question from Mr. Grimshaw 
 whether, if the nomination for President could not be ob- 
 tained, he would accept the post of Vice-President, he an- 
 swered that he would not ; that his name having been used 
 for the office of President, he would not permit it to be 
 used for any other office, however honorable it might be. 
 This meeting was preliminary to the Decatur convention, 
 and was also the first concerted action in his behalf on the 
 part of his friends. 
 
 In the preceding October he came rushing into the office 
 one morning, with the letter from New York City, inviting 
 him to deliver a lecture there, and asked my advice and 
 that of other friends as to the subject and character of his 
 address. We all recommended a speech on the political 
 situation. Remembering his poor success as a lecturer 
 himself, he adopted our suggestions. He accepted the in- 
 vitation of the New York committee, at the same time 
 notifying them that his speech would deal entirely with 
 political questions, and fixing a day late in February as 
 the most convenient time. Meanwhile he spent the inter- 
 vening time in careful preparation. He searched through 
 the dusty volumes of congressional proceedings in the 
 State library, and dug deeply into political history. He 
 was painstaking and thorough in the study of his subject, 
 but when at last he left for New York we had many mis- 
 givings — and he not a few himself — of his sucess in the 
 great metropolis. What effect the unpretentious Western 
 lawyer would have on the wealthy and fashionable society 
 of the great city could only be conjectured. A description 
 of the meeting at Cooper Institute, a list of the names of 
 the prominent men and women present, or an account of 
 Lincoln in the delivery of the address would be needless 
 
36S LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 repetitions of well-known history. It only remains to say 
 that his speech was devoid of all rhetorical imagery, with 
 a marked suppression of the pyrotechnics of stump ora- 
 tory. It was constructed with a view to accuracy of state- 
 ment, simplicity of language, and unity of thought. In 
 some respects like a lawyer's brief, it was logical, temper- 
 ate in tone, powerful — irresistibly driving conviction home 
 to men's reasons and their souls. No former effort in 
 the line of speech-making had cost Lincoln so much time 
 and thought as this one. It is said by one of his biogra- 
 phers, that those afterwards engaged in getting out the 
 speech as a campaign document were three weeks in veri- 
 fying the statements and finding the historical records re- 
 ferred to and consulted by him. This is probably a little 
 over-stated as to time, but unquestionably the work of 
 verification and reference was in any event a very labored 
 and extended one. (Mr. Lincoln obtained most of the 
 facts of his Cooper Institute speech from Eliott's "De- 
 bates on the Federal Constitution/' There were six vol- 
 umes, which he gave to me when he went to Washington 
 in 1861.) The day following the Cooper Institute meet- 
 ing, the leading New York dailies published the speech 
 in full, and made favorable editorial mention of it and of 
 the speaker as well. It was plain now that Lincoln had 
 captured the metropolis. From New York he traveled to 
 New England to visit his son Robert, who was attending 
 college. In answer to the many calls and invitations which 
 showered on him, he spoke at various places in Connecti- 
 cut, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire. In all these places 
 he not only left deep impressions of his ability, but he 
 convinced New England of his intense earnestness in the 
 great cause. The newspapers treated him with no little 
 consideration. One paper (the Manchester Mirror) char- 
 acterized his speech as one of "great fairness," delivered 
 with "great apparent candor and wonderful interest. For 
 the first half hour his opponents would agree with every 
 word he uttered ; and from that point he would lead them 
 off little by little until it seemed as if he had got them all 
 into his fold. He is far from prepossessing in persona? 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 369 
 
 appearance, and his voice is disagreeable ; and yet he wins 
 your attention from the start. He indulges in no flowers 
 of rhetoric, no eloquent passages. . . . He displays more 
 shrewdness, more knowledge of the masses of mankind 
 than any public speaker we have heard since Long Jim 
 Wilson left for California." 
 
 On his return home Lincoln told me that for once in 
 his life he was greatly abashed over his personal appear- 
 ance. The new suit of clothes which he donned on his 
 arrival in New York were ill-fitting garments, and showed 
 the creases made while packed in the valise ; and for a 
 long time after he began his speech and before he became 
 "warmed up" he imagined that the audience noticed the 
 contrast between his Western clothes and the neat-fitting 
 suits of Mr. Bryant and others who sat on the platform. 
 The collar of his coat on the right side had an unpleasant 
 way of flying up whenever he raised his arm to gesticu- 
 late. He imagined the audience noticed that also. After 
 the meeting closed, the newspaper reporters called for 
 slips of his speech. This amused him, because he had no 
 idea what slips were, and besides, didn't suppose the news- 
 papers cared to print his speech verbatim. 5 
 
 Lincoln's return to Springfield after his dazzling success 
 in the East was the signal for earnest congratulations on 
 the part of his friends. Seward was the great man of the 
 day, but Lincoln had demonstrated to the satisfaction of 
 his friends that he was tall enough and strong enough to 
 measure swords with the Auburn statesman. His triumph 
 in New York and New England had shown that the idea of 
 a house divided against itself induced as strong co-opera- 
 tion and hearty support in prevention of a great wrong in 
 the East as the famous "irrepressible conflict" attracted 
 warriors to Seward's standard in the Mississippi valley. 
 It was apparent now to Lincoln that the Presidential nom- 
 ination was within his reach. He began gradually to lose 
 his interest in the law and to trim his political sails at the 
 same time. His recent success had stimulated his self- 
 confidence to unwonted proportions. He wrote to influ- 
 
 6 Original footnote. 
 
3/0 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 ential parry workers everywhere. I know the idea prevails 
 that Lincoln sat still in his chair in Springfield, and that 
 one of those unlooked-for-tides in human affairs came 
 along and cast the nomination into his lap; but any man 
 who has had experience in such things knows that great 
 political prizes are not obtained in that way. The truth is, 
 Lincoln was as vigilant as he was ambitious, and there is 
 no denying the fact that he understood the situation per- 
 fectly from the start. In the management of his own 
 interests he was obliged to rely almost entirely on his own 
 resources. He had no money with which to maintain a 
 political bureau, and he lacked any kind of personal organi- 
 zation whatever. Seward had all these things, and, behind 
 them all, a brilliant record in the United States Senate with 
 which to dazzle his followers. But with all his prestige 
 and experience the latter was no more adroit and no more 
 untiring in pursuit of his ambition than the man who had 
 just delivered the Cooper Institute speech. A letter written 
 by Lincoln about this time to a friend in Kansas serves 
 to illustrate his methods, and measures the extent of his 
 ambition. The letter is dated March 10, and is now in 
 my possession. For obvious reasons I withhold the 
 friend's name. 6 "As to your kind wishes for myself/' 
 writes Lincoln, "allow me to say I cannot enter the ring on 
 the money basis — first, because in the main it is wrong; 
 and secondly, I have not and cannot get the money. I say 
 in the main the use of money is wrong ; but for certain ob- 
 jects in a political contest the use of some is both right and 
 indispensable. With me, as with yourself, this long struggle 
 has been one of great pecuniary loss. I now distinctly say 
 this: Tf you shall be appointed a delegate to Chicago I 
 will furnish one hundred dollars to bear the expenses of 
 the trip.' ,! There is enough in this letter to show that Lin- 
 coln was not only determined in his political ambition, but 
 intensely practical as well. His eye was constantly fast- 
 ened on Seward, who had already freely exercised the 
 rights of leadership in the party. All other competitors he 
 dropped out of the problem. In the middle of April he 
 6 It was Mark W. Delahay. 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 371 
 
 again writes his Kansas friend : "Reaching home last night 
 I found yours of the 7th. You know I was recently in New 
 England. Some of the acquaintances I made while there 
 write me since the election that the close vote in Connec- 
 ticut and the quasi-defeat in Rhode Island are a drawback 
 upon the prospects of Governor Seward; and Trumbull 
 writes Dubois to the same effect. Do not mention this as 
 coming from me. Both these States are safe enough in the 
 fall." But, while Seward may have lost ground near his 
 home, he was acquiring strength in the West. He had 
 invaded the very territory Lincoln was intending to retain 
 by virtue of his course in the contest with Douglas. Lin- 
 coln's friend in Kansas, instead of securing that delegation 
 for him, had suffered the Seward men to outgeneral him, 
 and the prospects were by no means flattering. "I see by 
 the dispatches," writes Lincoln, in a burst of surprise, 
 "that, since you wrote, Kansas has appointed delegates and 
 instructed for Seward. Don't stir them up to anger, but 
 come along to the convention and I will do as I said about 
 expenses." Whether the friend ever accepted Lincoln's 
 generous offer I do not know, but it may not be without 
 interest to state that within ten days after the latter's 
 inauguration he appointed him to a Federal office with com- 
 f orable salary attached, and even asked for his preferences 
 as to other contemplated appointments in his own State. 7 
 "You will start for Kansas before I see you again" ; he 
 wrote, "and when I saw you a moment this morning I 
 forgot to ask you about some of the Kansas appointments, 
 which I intended to do. If you care much about them you 
 
 7 On May 12, 1860, Lincoln wrote Delahay the following letter : 
 "My Dear Sir : 
 
 "Yours informing me of your arrival in Chicago was duly 
 received. Dubois, our A[uditor, goes] to Chicago to-day; and 
 he will hand you $ [? . The] remainder will come before you 
 leave the s[tate.] . . ." 
 
 In April, 1861, Lincoln appointed Delahay Surveyor-General 
 for Kansas and Nebraska, and in 1863, United States District 
 Judge for Kansas. His conduct in the latter office was such 
 that impeachment proceedings were instituted, whereupon he re- 
 signed. Angle, New Letters and Papers of Lincoln, p. 243. 
 
3/2 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 can write, as I think I shall not make the appointments 
 just yet." 
 
 This case illustrates quite forcibly Lincoln's weakness in 
 dealing with individuals. This man I know had written 
 Lincoln, promising to bring the Kansas delegation to Chi- 
 cago for him if he would only pay his expenses. Lincoln 
 was weak enough to make the promise, and yet such was 
 his faith in the man that he appointed him to an important 
 judicial position and gave him great prominence in other 
 ways. What President or candidate for President would 
 dare do such a thing now ? 8 
 
 In the rapid, stirring scenes that crowd upon each other 
 from this time forward the individuality of Lincoln is 
 easily lost sight of. He was so thoroughly interwoven in 
 the issues before the people of Illinois that he had become 
 a part of them. Among his colleagues at the bar he was 
 no longer looked upon as the circuit-court lawyer of 
 earlier days. To them it seemed as if the nation were about 
 to lay its claim upon him. His tall form enlarged, until, 
 to use a figurative expression, he could no longer pass 
 through the door of our dingy office. Reference has al- 
 ready been made to the envy of his rivals at the bar, and 
 the jealousy of his political contemporaries. Very few 
 indeed were free from the degrading passion ; but it made 
 no difference in Lincoln's treatment of them. He was as 
 generous and deferred to them as much as ever. The first 
 public movement by the Illinois people in his interest was 
 the action of the State convention, which met at Decatur 
 on the 9th and 10th of May. It was at this convention 
 that Lincoln's friend and cousin, John Hanks, brought in 
 the two historic rails which both had made in the Sanga- 
 mon bottom in 1830, and which served the double purpose 
 of electrifying the Illinois people and kindling the fire of 
 enthusiasm that was destined to sweep over the nation. In 
 the words of an ardent Lincoln delegate, "These rails 
 were to represent the issue in the coming contest between 
 labor free and labor slave; between democracy and aris- 
 
 8 This paragraph, and the quotation from Lincoln's letter which 
 precedes it, were originally footnotes. 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 373 
 
 tocracy. Little did I think," continues our jubilant and 
 effusive friend, "of the mighty consequences of this little 
 incident; little did I think that the tall, and angular, and 
 bony rail-splitter who stood in girlish diffidence bowing with 
 awkward grace would fill the chair once filled by Washing- 
 ton, and that his name would echo in chants of praise along 
 the corridor of all coming time." A week later the hosts 
 were gathered for the great convention in Chicago. David 
 Davis had rented rooms in the Tremont House and opened 
 up "Lincoln's headquarters." I was not a delegate, but 
 belonged to the contingent which had Lincoln's interests 
 in charge. Judge Logan was the Springfield delegate, and 
 to him Lincoln had given a letter authorizing the with- 
 drawal of his name whenever his friends deemed such 
 action necessary or proper. Davis was the active man, and 
 had the business management in charge. If any negotia- 
 tions were made, he made them. The convention was held 
 in a monster building called the Wigwam. No one who 
 has ever attempted a description of it has overdrawn its 
 enthusiasm and exciting scenes. Amid all the din and con- 
 fusion, the curbstone contentions, the promiscuous wrang- 
 ling of delegates, the deafening roar of the assembled 
 hosts, the contest narrowed down to a neck-and-neck race 
 between the brilliant statesman of Auburn and the less 
 pretentious, but manly rail-splitter from the Sangamon 
 bottoms. With the proceedings of the convention the 
 world is already well familiar. On the first ballot Seward 
 led, but was closely followed by Lincoln; on the second 
 Lincoln gained amazingly; on the third the race was an 
 even one until the dramatic change by Carter, of Ohio, 
 when Lincoln, swinging loose, swept grandly to the front. 
 The cannon planted on the roof of the Wigwam belched 
 forth a boom across the Illinois prairies. The sound was 
 taken up and reverberated from Maine to California. With 
 the nomination of Hannibal Hamlin, of Maine, the conven- 
 tion adjourned. The delegates — victorious and vanquished 
 alike — turned their steps homeward, and the great cam- 
 paign of 1860 had begun. The day before the nomination 
 the editor of the Springfield Journal arrived in Chicago 
 
374 LIFE 0F LINCOLN 
 
 with a copy of the Missouri Democrat, in which Lincoln 
 had marked three passages referring to Seward's position 
 on the slavery question. On the margin of the paper he 
 had written in pencil, "1 agree with Seward in his 'Irre- 
 pressible Conflict/ but I do not endorse his 'Higher Law' 
 doctrine. ,, Then he added in words underscored. "Make 
 no contracts that will bind me." This paper was brought 
 into the room where Davis, Judd, Logan, and I were 
 gathered, and was read to us. But Lincoln was down in 
 Springfield, some distance away from Chicago, and could 
 therefore not appreciate the gravity of the situation; at 
 least so Davis argued, and, viewing it in that light, the 
 latter went ahead with his negotiations. What the conse- 
 quences of these deals were will appear later on. The 
 news of his nomination found Lincoln at Springfield in 
 the office of the Journal. Naturally enough he was nerv- 
 ous, restless, and laboring under more or less suppressed 
 excitement. He had been tossing ball — a pastime fre- 
 quently indulged in by the lawyers of that day, and had 
 played a few games of billiards to keep down, as another 
 has expressed it, "the unnatural excitement that threatened 
 to posses him." When the telegram containing the result 
 of the last ballot came in, although apparently calm and 
 undisturbed, a close observer could have detected in the 
 compressed lip and serious countenance evidences of 
 deep and unusual emotion. As the balloting progressed 
 he had gone to the office of the Journal, and was sit- 
 ting in a large arm-chair there when the news of his 
 nomination came. What a line of scenes, stretching from 
 the barren glade in Kentucky to the jubilant and enthuias- 
 tic throng in the Wigwam at Chicago, must have broken 
 in upon his vision as he hastened from the newspaper 
 office to "tell a little woman down the street the news!" 
 In the evening his friends and neighbors called to con- 
 gratulate him. He thanked them feelingly and shook them 
 each by the hand. A day later the committee from the 
 convention, with George Ashmun, of Massachusetts, at its 
 head, called, and delivered formal notice of his nomination. 
 This meeting took place at his house. His response was 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 375 
 
 couched in polite and dignified language, and many of the 
 committee, who now met him for the first time, departed 
 with an improved impression of the new standard-bearer. 
 A few days later he wrote his official letter of acceptance, 
 in which he warmly endorsed the resolutions of the con- 
 vention. His actions and utterances so far had begun to 
 dissipate the erroneous notion prevalent in some of the 
 more remote Eastern States, that he was more of a back- 
 woods boor than a gentleman ; but with the arrival of the 
 campaign in dead earnest, people paid less attention to the 
 candidates and more to the great issues at stake. Briefly 
 stated, the Republican platform was a declaration that "the 
 new dogma, that the Constitution carries slavery into all 
 the Territories, is a dangerous political heresy, revolution- 
 ary in tendency and subversive of the peace and harmony 
 of the country ; that the normal condition of all the Terri- 
 tories is that of freedom ; that neither Congress, the Terri- 
 torial Legislature, nor any individual can give legal exist- 
 ence to slavery in any Territory ; that the opening of the 
 slave trade would be a crime against humanity." Resolu- 
 tions favoring a homestead law, river and harbor improve- 
 ments, and the Pacific railroad were also included in the 
 platform. With these the Republicans, as a lawyer would 
 say, went to the country. The campaign which followed 
 was one with few parallels in American history. There 
 was not only the customary exultation and enthusiasm over 
 candidates, but there was patient listening and hard think- 
 ing among the masses. The slavery question, it was felt, 
 must soon be decided. Threats of disunion were the texts 
 of many a campaign speech in the South : in fact, as has 
 since been shown, a deep laid conspiracy to overthrow the 
 Union was then forming, and was only awaiting the elec- 
 tion of a Republican President to show its hideous head. 
 The Democratic party was struggling under the demoraliz- 
 ing effects of a split, in which even the Buchanan admin- 
 istration had taken sides. Douglas, the nominee of one 
 wing, in his desperation had entered into the canvass him- 
 self, making speeches with all the power and eloquence at 
 his command. The Republicans, cheered over the pros- 
 
376 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 pect, had joined hands with the Abolitionists, and both 
 were marching to victory under the inspiration of Lincoln's 
 sentiment, that "the further spread of slavery should be 
 arrested, and it should be placed where the public mind 
 shall rest in the belief of its ultimate extinction." 
 
 As the canvass advanced and waxed warm I tendered 
 my services and made a number of speeches in the central 
 part of the State. I remember, in the midst of a speech at 
 Petersburg, and just as I was approaching an oratorical 
 climax, a man out of breath came rushing up to me and 
 thrust a message into my hand. I was somewhat frus- 
 trated and greatly alarmed, fearing it might contain news 
 of some accident in my family; but great was my relief 
 when I read it, which I did aloud. It was a message from 
 Lincoln, telling me to be of good cheer, that Ohio, Penn- 
 sylvania, and Indiana had gone Republican. 
 
 The handwriting of the note was a little tremulous, 
 showing that Lincoln was excited and nervous when he 
 wrote it. Following is a copy of the original MS. : 
 
 "Springfield, III., October 10, 1860. 
 "Dear William : I cannot give you details, but it is en- 
 tirely certain that Pennsylvania and Indiana have gone Re- 
 publican very largely. Pennsylvania 25,000, and Indiana 
 5,000 to 10,000. Ohio of course is safe. 
 
 "Yours as ever, 
 
 "A. Lincoln." 
 
 These were then October States, and this was the first 
 gun for the great cause. It created so much demonstration, 
 such a burst of enthusiasm and confusion, that the crowd 
 forgot they had any speaker ; they ran yelling and hurrah- 
 ing out of the hall, and I never succeeded in finishing 
 the speech. 
 
 As soon as officially notified of his nomination 9 Mr. 
 
 9 Following is Lincoln's letter of acceptance : 
 
 "Springfield, III., June 23, 1860. 
 
 "Sir: I accept the nomination tendered me by the convention 
 over which you presided, of which I am formally apprised in 
 a letter of yourself and others, acting as a committee of the 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 377 
 
 Lincoln moved his headquarters from our office to a room 
 in the State House building, and there, with his secretary, 
 John G. Nicolay, he spent the busy and exciting days of 
 his campaign. Of course he attended to no law business, 
 but still he loved to come to our office of evenings, and 
 spend an hour with a few choice friends in a friendly 
 privacy which was denied him at his public quarters. These 
 were among the last meetings we had with Lincoln as our 
 friend and fellow at the bar; and they are also the most 
 delightful recollections any of us have retained of him. 
 
 One of what Lincoln regarded as the remarkable feat- 
 ures of his canvass for President was the attitude of some 
 of his neighbors in Springfield. A poll of the voters had 
 been made in a little book and given to him. On running 
 over the names he found that the greater part of the 
 clergy of the city — in fact all but three — were against him. 
 This depressed him somewhat, and he called in Dr. Newton 
 Bateman, who as Superintendent of Public Instruction 
 occupied the room adjoining his own in the State House, 
 and whom he habitually addressed as "Mr. Schoolmaster. " 
 He commented bitterly on the attitude of the preachers 
 and many of their followers, who, pretending to be believ- 
 ers in the Bible and God-fearing Christians, yet by their 
 votes demonstrated that they cared not whether slavery 
 was voted up or down. "God cares and humanity cares," 
 he reflected, "and if they do not they surely have not read 
 their Bible aright." 10 
 
 convention for that purpose. The declaration of principles which 
 accompanies your letter meets my approval, and it shall be my 
 care not to violate it or disregard it in any part. Imploring 
 the assistance of Divine Providence, and with due regard to the 
 views and feelings of all who were represented in the convention, 
 to the rights of all the states and territories and people of the 
 nation, to the inviolability of the Constitution, and the perpetual 
 union, prosperity, and harmony of all, I am most happy to co- 
 operate for the practical success of the principles declared by 
 the convention. 
 
 "Your obliged friend and fellow-citizen, 
 "Abraham Lincoln." 
 "Hon. George Ashmun." 
 
 10 Original footnote. 
 
378 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 At last the turmoil and excitement and fatigue of the 
 campaign were over: the enthusiastic political workers 
 threw aside their campaign uniforms, the boys blew out 
 their torches, and the voter approached the polls with his 
 ballot. On the morning of election day I stepped in to see 
 Mr. Lincoln, and was surprised to learn that he did not 
 intend to cast his vote. I knew of course that he did so 
 because of a feeling that the candidate for a Presidential 
 office ought not to vote for his own electors ; but when I 
 suggested the plan of cutting off the Presidential electors 
 and voting for the State officers, he was struck with the 
 idea, and at last consented. His appearance at the polls, 
 accompanied by Ward Lamon, the lamented young Ells- 
 worth, and myself, was the occasion of no little surprise 
 because of the general impression which prevailed that he 
 did not intend to vote. The crowd around the polls opened 
 a gap as the distinguished voter approached, and some even 
 removed their hats as he deposited his ticket and an- 
 nounced in a subdued voice his name, "Abraham Lincoln." 
 
 The election was held on the 6th of November. The 
 result showed a popular vote of 1,857,610 for Lincoln; 
 1,291,574 for Douglas; 850,022 for Breckenridge ; and 
 646,124 for Bell. In the electoral college Lincoln received 
 180 votes, Breckenridge 72, Bell 39, and Douglas 12. u 
 Mr. Lincoln having now been elected, there remained, be- 
 fore taking up the reins of government, the details of his 
 departure from Springfield, and the selection of a cabinet. 
 
 11 Lincoln electors were chosen in seventeen of the free States, 
 as follows : Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Is- 
 land, Connecticut, Vermont, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, In- 
 diana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, California, 
 Oregon ; and in one State, — New Jersey, — owing to a fusion 
 between Democrats, Lincoln secured four and Douglas three of 
 the electors. Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, 
 Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North and South Carolina, and 
 Texas went for Breckenridge; Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia 
 for Bell; while Douglas secured only one entire State — Missouri. 
 
CHAPTER SIXTEEN 
 
 THE ELECTION OVER, MR. LINCOLN SCARCELY HAD TIME 
 
 to take a breath until another campaign and one equally 
 trying, so far as a test of his constitution and nerves are 
 concerned, as the one through which he had just passed, 
 opened up before him. I refer to the siege of the cabinet- 
 makers and office-seekers. It proved to be a severe and 
 protracted strain and one from which there seemed to be 
 no relief, as the President-elect of this renowned demo- 
 cratic Government is by custom and precedent expected 
 to meet and listen to everybody who calls to see him. "In- 
 dividuals, deputations, and delegations," says one of Mr. 
 Lincoln's biographers, "from all quarters pressed in upon 
 him in a manner that might have killed a man of less ro- 
 bust constitution. The hotels of Springfield were filled 
 with gentlemen who came with light baggage and heavy 
 schemes. The party had never been in office. A clean 
 sweep of the 'ins' was expected, and all the 'outs' were 
 patriotically anxious to take the vacant places. It was a 
 party that had never fed; and it was vigorously hungry. 
 Mr. Lincoln and Artemus Ward saw a great deal of fun 
 in it; and in all human probability it was the fun alone 
 that enabled Mr. Lincoln to bear it." 
 
 A newspaper correspondent who had been sent down 
 from Chicago to "write up" Mr. Lincoln soon after his 
 nomination, was kind enough several years ago to furnish 
 me with an account of his visit. As some of his remi- 
 niscences are more or less interesting, I take the liberty 
 of inserting a portion of his letter. "A what-not in the 
 corner of the room," he relates, "was laden with various 
 kinds of shells. Taking one in my hand, I said, This, I 
 
380 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 suppose, is called a Trocus by the geologist or naturalist/ 
 Mr. Lincoln paused a moment as if reflecting and then 
 replied, 'I do not know, for I never studied either geology 
 or natural history/ I then took to examining the few 
 pictures that hung on the walls, and was paying more 
 than ordinary attention to one that hung above the sofa. 
 He was immediately at my left and pointing to it said, 
 'That picture gives a very fair representation of my homely 
 face/ . . . The time for my departure nearing, I made 
 the usual apologies and started to go. 'You cannot get out 
 of town before a quarter past eleven/ remonstrated Mr. 
 Lincoln, 'and you may as well stay a little longer/ Under 
 pretence of some unfinished matters down town, how- 
 ever, I very reluctantly withdrew from the mansion. 
 'Well/ said Mr. Lincoln, as we passed into the hall, 'sup- 
 pose you come over to the State House before you start 
 for Chicago/ After a moment's deliberation I promised 
 to do so. Mr. Lincoln, following without his hat, and 
 continuing the conversation, shook hands across the gate, 
 saying, 'Now, come over/ I wended my way to my hotel, 
 and after a brief period was in his office at the State 
 House. Resuming conversation, he said, 'If the man comes 
 with the key before you go, I want to give you a book/ 
 I certainly hoped the man would come with the key. 
 Some conversation had taken place at the house on which 
 his book treated, — but I had forgotten this, — and soon Mr. 
 Lincoln absented himself for perhaps two minutes and re- 
 turned with a copy of the debates between himself and 
 Judge Douglas. He placed the book on his knee, as he sat 
 on two legs of his chair, and wrote on the fly-leaf, 'J. S. 
 Bliss, from A. Lincoln/ Besides this he marked a com- 
 plete paragraph near the middle of the book. While sitting 
 in the position described little Willie, his son, came in 
 and begged his father for twenty-five cents. 'My son/ 
 said the father, 'what do you want with twenty-five cents ?' 
 T want it to buy candy with/ cried the boy. T cannot give 
 you twenty-five cents, my son, but will give you five cents/ 
 at the same time putting his thumb and finger into his 
 vest pocket and taking therefrom five cents in silver, which 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 381 
 
 he placed upon the desk for the boy. But this did not 
 reach Willie's expectations ; he scorned the pile, and turn- 
 ing away clambered down-stairs and through the spacious 
 halls of the Capitol, leaving behind him his five cents and a 
 distinct reverberation of sound. Mr. Lincoln turned to 
 me and said, 'He will be back after that in a few minutes/ 
 'Why do you think so?' said I. 'Because, as soon as he 
 finds I will give him no more he will come and get it/ 
 After the matter had been nearly forgotten and conversa- 
 tion had turned in an entirely different channel, Willie 
 came cautiously in behind my chair and that of his father, 
 picked up the specie, and went away without saying a 
 word/' 1 
 
 His own election of course disposed of any claims Illi- 
 nois might have had to any further representation in the 
 cabinet, but it afforded Mr. Lincoln no relief from the 
 argumentative interviews and pressing claims of the end- 
 less list of ambitious statesmen in the thirty-two other 
 states, who swarmed into Springfield from every point of 
 the compass. He told each one of them a story, and even if 
 he failed to put their names on his slate they went away 
 without knowing that fact, and never forgot the visit. He 
 had a way of pretending to assure his visitor that in the 
 choice of his advisers he was "free to act as his judgment 
 dictated," although David Davis, acting as his manager at 
 the Chicago convention, had negotiated with the Indiana 
 and Pennsylvania delegations, and assigned places in the 
 cabinet to Simon Cameron and Caleb Smith, besides mak- 
 ing other "arrangements" which Mr. Lincoln was expected 
 to ratify. Of this he was undoubtedly aware, although 
 in answer to a letter from Joshua R. Giddings, of Ohio, 
 congratulating him on his nomination, he said, "It is in- 
 deed most grateful to my feelings that the responsible 
 position assigned me comes without conditions." Out of 
 regard to the dignity of the exalted station he was about 
 to occupy, he was not as free in discussing the matter of 
 his probable appointments with some of his personal 
 
 1 J. S. Bliss to Herndon, Jan. 29, 1867. The quotation was 
 originally used as a footnote. 
 
382 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 friends as they had believed he would be. In one or two 
 instances, I remember, the latter were offended at his 
 seeming disregard of the claims of old friendship. My 
 advice was not asked for on such grave subjects, nor had 
 I any right or reason to believe it would be ; hence I never 
 felt slighted or offended. On some occasions in our office, 
 when Mr. Lincoln had come across from the State House 
 for a rest or a chat with me, he would relate now and then 
 some circumstance — generally an amusing one — connected 
 with the settlement of the cabinet problem, but it was said 
 in such a way that one would not have felt free to interro- 
 gate him about his plans. Soon after his election I re- 
 ceived from my friend Joseph Medill, of Chicago, a letter 
 which argued strongly against the appointment of Simon 
 Cameron to a place in the cabinet, and which the writer 
 desired I should bring to Mr. Lincoln's attention. I 
 awaited a favorable opportunity, and one evening when 
 we were alone in our office I gave it to him. It was an 
 eloquent protest against the appointment of a corrupt and 
 debased man, and coming from the source it did — the 
 writer being one of Lincoln's best newspaper supporters 
 — made a deep impression on him. Lincoln read it over 
 several times, but refrained from expressing any opinion. 
 He did say, however, that he felt himself under no promise 
 or obligation to appoint anyone ; that if his friends made 
 any agreements for him they did so over his expressed 
 direction and without his knowledge. At another time he 
 said that he wanted to give the South, by way of placation, 
 a place in his cabinet ; that a fair division of the country 
 entitled the Southern States to a reasonable representation 
 there, and if not interfered with he would make such a 
 distribution as would satisfy all persons interested. He 
 named three persons who would be acceptable to him. 
 They were Botts, of Virginia; Stephens, of Georgia; and 
 Maynard, of Tennessee. He apprehended no such grave 
 danger to the Union as the mass of people supposed would 
 result from the Southern threats, and said he could not 
 in his heart believe that the South designed the overthrow 
 of the Government. This is the extent of my conversa- 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 383 
 
 tion about the cabinet. Thurlow Weed, the veteran in 
 journalism and politics, came out from New York and 
 spent several days with Lincoln. He was not only the 
 representative of Senator Seward, but rendered the Presi- 
 dent-elect signal service in the formation of his cabinet. 
 In his autobiography Mr. Weed relates numerous inci- 
 dents of this visit. He was one day opposing the claims of 
 Montgomery Blair who aspired to a cabinet appointment, 
 when Mr. Lincoln inquired of Weed whom he would 
 recommend. "Henry Winter Davis," was the response. 
 "David Davis, I see, has been posting you up on this ques- 
 tion," retorted Lincoln. "He has Davis on the brain. I 
 think Maryland must be a good State to move from." The 
 President then told a story of a witness in court in a neigh- 
 boring county, who on being asked his age replied, "Sixty." 
 Being satisfied he was much older the question was re- 
 peated, and on receiving the same answer, the court ad- 
 monished the witness, saying, "The court knows you to be 
 much older than sixty." "Oh, I understand now," was 
 the rejoinder; "you're thinking of those ten years I spent 
 on the eastern shore of Maryland ; that was so much time 
 lost and don't count." 
 
 Before Mr. Lincoln's departure from Springfield, peo- 
 ple who knew him personally were frequently asked what 
 sort of man he was. I received many letters, generally 
 from the Eastern States, showing that much doubt still 
 existed in the minds of the people whether he would prove 
 equal to the great task that lay in store for him. Among 
 others who wrote me on the subject was the Hon. Henry 
 Wilson, late Vice-President of the United States, whom 
 I had met during my visit to Washington in the spring of 
 1858. Two years after Mr. Lincoln's death, Mr. Wilson 
 wrote me as follows: "I have just finished reading your 
 letter dated December 21, 1860, in answer to a letter of 
 mine asking you to give me your opinion of the President 
 just elected. In this letter to me you say of Mr. Lincoln 
 what more than four years of observation confirmed. 
 After stating that you had been his law partner for over 
 eighteen years and his most intimate and bosom friend all 
 
384 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 that time you say, 'I know him better than he does him- 
 self. I know this seems a little strong, but I risk the as- 
 sertion. Lincoln is a man of heart — aye, as gentle as a 
 woman's and as tender — but he has a will strong as iron. 
 He therefore loves all mankind, hates slavery and every 
 form of despotism. Put these together — love for the slave, 
 and a determination, a will, that justice, strong and un- 
 yielding, shall be done when he has the right to act, and 
 you can form your own conclusions. Lincoln will fail 
 here, namely, if a question of political economy — if any 
 question comes up which is doubtful, questionable, which 
 no man can demonstrate, then his friends can rule him; 
 but when on justice, right, liberty, the Government, the 
 Constitution, and the Union, then you may all stand aside ; 
 he will rule then, and no man can move him — no set of men 
 can do it. There is no fail here. This is Lincoln, and you 
 mark my prediction. You and I must keep the people 
 right ; God will keep Lincoln right.' These words of yours 
 made a deep impression upon my mind, and I came to love 
 and trust him even before I saw him. After an acquain- 
 tance of more than four years I found that your idea of 
 him was in all respects correct — that he was the loving, 
 tender, firm, and just man you represented him to be; 
 while upon some questions in which moral elements did 
 not so clearly enter he was perhaps too easily influenced 
 by others. Mr. Lincoln was a genuine democrat in feel- 
 ings, sentiments, and actions. How patiently and con- 
 siderately he listened amid the terrible pressure of public 
 affairs to the people who thronged his ante-room! I re- 
 member calling upon him one day during the war on press- 
 ing business. The ante-room was crowded with men and 
 women seeking admission. He seemed oppressed, care- 
 worn, and weary. I said to him, 'Mr. President, you are 
 too exhausted to see this throng waiting to see you ; you 
 will wear yourself out and ought not see these people 
 today.' He replied, with one of those smiles in which 
 sadness seemed to mingle, 'They don't want much; they 
 get but little, and I must see them.' During the war his 
 heart was oppressed and his life burdened with the con- 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 385 
 
 flict between the tenderness of his nature and what seemed 
 to be the imperative demands of duty. In the darkest 
 hours of the conflict desertions from the army were fre- 
 quent, and army officers urgently pressed the execution of 
 the sentences of the law ; but it was with the greatest effort 
 that he would bring himself to consent to the execution of 
 the judgment of the military tribunals. I remember call- 
 ing early one sabbath morning with a wounded Irish offi- 
 cer, who came to Washington to say that a soldier who 
 had been sentenced to be shot in a day or two for deser- 
 tion had fought gallantly by his side in battle. I told Mr. 
 Lincoln we had come to ask him to pardon the poor soldier. 
 After a few moments' reflection he said, 'My officers tell 
 me the good of the service demands the enforcement of 
 the law ; but it makes my heart ache to have the poor fel- 
 lows shot. I will pardon this soldier, and then you will all 
 join in blaming me for it. You censure me for granting 
 pardons, and yet you all ask me to do so/ I say again, no 
 man had a more loving and tender nature than Mr. Lin- 
 coln." 
 
 Before departing for Washington Mr. Lincoln went to 
 Chicago 2 for a few days' stay, and there by previous ar- 
 rangement met his old friend, Joshua F. Speed. Both 
 were accompanied by their wives, and while the latter were 
 out shopping the two husbands repaired to Speed's room 
 at the hotel. "For an hour or more," relates Speed, "we 
 lived over again the scenes of other days. Finally Lin- 
 coln threw himself on the bed, and fixing his eyes on a 
 spot in the ceiling asked me this question, 'Speed, what is 
 your pecuniary condition? are you rich or poor?' I an- 
 
 2 Lincoln went to Chicago to meet Hannibal Hamlin, with 
 whom he was unacquainted. Accompanied by Mrs. Lincoln, he 
 left Springfield on November 21 and returned five days later. 
 Herndon printed the following anecdote of the trip as a footnote: 
 "A lady called one day at the hotel where the Lincolns were 
 stopping in Chicago to take Mrs. Lincoln out for a promenade 
 or a drive. She was met in the parlor by Mr. Lincoln, who, after 
 a hurried trip up stairs to ascertain the cause of the delay in his 
 wife's appearance, returned with the report that 'She will be 
 down as soon as she has all her trotting harness on'." 
 
386 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 swered, addressing him by his new title, 'Mr. President, 
 I think I can anticipate what you are going to say. I'll 
 speak candidly to you on the subject. My pecuniary con- 
 dition is satisfactory to me now; you would perhaps call 
 it good. I do not think you have within your gift any 
 office I could afford to take/ Mr. Lincoln then proposed 
 to make Guthrie, of Kentucky, Secretary of War, but did 
 not want to write to him — asked me to feel of him. I did 
 as requested, but the Kentucky statesman declined on the 
 ground of his advanced age, and consequent physical ina- 
 bility to fill the position. He gave substantial assurance 
 of his loyal sentiments, however, and insisted that the 
 Union should be preserved at all hazards." 
 
 Late in January Mr. Lincoln informed me that he was 
 ready to begin the preparation of his inaugural address. 
 He had, aside from his law books and the few gilded vol- 
 umes that ornamented the centre-table in his parlor at 
 home, comparatively no library. He never seemed to care 
 to own or collect books. On the other hand I had a very 
 respectable collection, and was adding to it every day. 
 To my library Lincoln very frequently had access. When, 
 therefore, he began on his inaugural speech he told me 
 what works he intended to consult. I looked for a long 
 list, but when he went over it I was greatly surprised. 
 He asked me to furnish him with Henry Clay's great 
 speech delivered in 1850; Andrew Jackson's proclamation 
 against Nullification ; and a copy of the Constitution. He 
 afterwards called for Webster's reply to Hayne, a speech 
 which he read when he lived at New Salem, and which he 
 always regarded as the grandest specimen of American 
 oratory. With these few "volumes," and no further sources 
 of reference, he locked himself up in a room upstairs over 
 a store across the street from the State House, and there, 
 cut off from all communication and intrusion, he prepared 
 the address. Though composed amid the unromantic sur- 
 roundings of a dingy, dusty, and neglected back room, the 
 speech has become a memorable document. Posterity will 
 assign to it a high rank among historical utterances ; and 
 it will ever bear comparison with the efforts of Washing- 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 387 
 
 ton, Jefferson, Adams, or any that preceded its delivery 
 from the steps of the national Capitol. 
 
 After Mr. Lincoln's rise to national prominence, and 
 especially since his death, I have often been asked if I did 
 not write this or that paper for him ; if I did not prepare 
 or help prepare some of his speeches. I know that other 
 and abler friends of Lincoln have been asked the same 
 question. ("I know it was the general impression in Wash- 
 ington," said David Davis in 1866, "that I knew all about 
 Lincoln's plans and ideas, but the truth is, I knew nothing. 
 He never confided to me anything of his purposes." ) 3 
 To people who made such inquiries I always responded, 
 "You don't understand Mr. Lincoln. No man ever asked 
 less aid than he; his confidence in his own ability to 
 meet the requirements of every hour was so marked that 
 his friends never thought of tendering their aid, and 
 therefore no one could share his responsibilities. I never 
 wrote a line for him ; he never asked me to. I was never 
 conscious of having exerted any influence over him. He 
 often called out my views on some philosophical question, 
 simply because I was a fond student of philosophy, and 
 conceding that I had given the subject more attention than 
 he ; he often asked as to the use of a word or the turn of 
 a sentence, but if I volunteered to recommend or even 
 suggest a change of language which involved a change of 
 sentiment I found him the most inflexible man I have ever 
 seen." 
 
 One more duty — an act of filial devotion — remained to 
 be done before Abraham Lincoln could announce his readi- 
 ness to depart for the city of Washington — a place from 
 which it was unfortunately decreed he should never return. 
 In the first week of February he slipped quietly away from 
 Springfield and rode to Farmington in Coles County, 
 where his aged step-mother was still living. Here, in the 
 little country village, he met also the surviving members 
 of the Hanks and Johnston families. He visited the grave 
 of his father, old Thomas Lincoln, which had been un- 
 
 3 Herndon used Davis' statement as a footnote in the original 
 edition. 
 
388 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 marked and neglected for almost a decade, and left direc- 
 tions that a suitable stone should be placed there to mark 
 the spot. Retracing his steps in the direction of Spring- 
 field he stopped over-night in the town of Charleston, 
 where he made a brief address, recalling many of his boy- 
 hood exploits, in the public hall. In the audience were 
 many persons who had known him first as the stalwart 
 young ox-driver when his father's family drove into Illi- 
 nois from southern Indiana. One man had brought with 
 him a horse which the President-elect, in the earlier days 
 of his law practice, had recovered for him in a replevin 
 suit ; another one was able to recite from personal recollec- 
 tion the thrilling details of the famous wrestling match 
 between Lincoln the flat-boatman in 1830 and Daniel 
 Needham; and all had some reminiscence of his early 
 manhood to relate. The separation from his step-mother 
 was particularly touching. 4 The parting, when the good 
 old woman, with tears streaming down her cheeks, gave 
 him a mother's benediction, expressing the fear that his 
 life might be taken by his enemies, will never be forgotten 
 by those who witnessed it. Deeply impressed by this fare- 
 well scene Mr. Lincoln reluctantly withdrew from the 
 circle of warm friends who crowded around him, and, 
 filled with gloomy forebodings of the future, returned to 
 Springfield. The great questions of state having been 
 pretty well settled in his own mind, and a few days yet 
 remaining before his final departure, his neighbors and 
 
 4 In a footnote to this sentence Herndon described Lincoln's 
 love for his second mother as "a most filial and affectionate one." 
 In support of his statement he quoted the following letter, written 
 in 1851 shortly after Thomas Lincoln's death: "Dear Mother: 
 Chapman tells me he wants you to go and live with him. If I 
 were you I would try it awhile. If you get tired of it (as I think 
 you will not) you can return to your own home. Chapman feels 
 very kindly to you; and I have no doubt he will make your 
 situation very pleasant. Sincerely your son, A. Lincoln." He 
 also quoted the following extract from a letter to John D. John- 
 ston: "If the land can be sold so that I can get three hundred 
 dollars to put to interest for mother I will not object if she 
 does not. But before I will make a deed the money must be 
 had, or secured beyond all doubt at ten per cent." 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 389 
 
 old friends called to take leave of him and pay their "best 
 respects. " Many of these callers were from New Salem, 
 where he had made his start in life, and each one had 
 some pleasant or amusing incident of earlier days to call 
 up when they met. Hannah Armstrong, who had "foxed" 
 his trousers with buckskin in the days when he served as 
 surveyor under John Calhoun, and whose son Lincoln had 
 afterwards acquitted in the trial for murder at Beards- 
 town, gave positive evidence of the interest she took in 
 his continued rise in the world. She bade him good-bye, 
 but was filled with a presentiment that she would never 
 see him alive again. "Hannah," he said, jovially, "if they 
 do kill me I shall never die again." Isaac Cogsdale, an- 
 other New Salem pioneer, came, and to him Lincoln again 
 admitted his love for the unfortunate Anne Rutledge. 
 Cogsdale afterwards told me of this interview. It occurred 
 late in the afternoon. Mr. Nicolay, the secretary, had 
 gone home, and the throng of visitors had ceased for the 
 day. Lincoln asked about all the early families of New 
 Salem, calling up the peculiarities of each as he went over 
 the list. Of the Rutledges he said : "I have loved the name 
 of Rutledge to this day. I have kept my mind on their 
 movements ever since." Of Anne he spoke with some 
 feeling: "I loved her dearly. She was a handsome girl, 
 would have made a good, loving wife ; she was natural, and 
 quite intellectual, though not highly educated. I did 
 honestly and truly love the girl, and think often of her 
 now." 
 
 Early in February the last item of preparation for the 
 journey to Washington had been made. Mr. Lincoln had 
 disposed of his household goods and furniture to a neigh- 
 bor, had rented his house ; and as these constituted all the 
 property he owned in Illinois there was no further occa- 
 sion for concern on that score. In the afternoon of his 
 last day in Springfield he came down to our office to 
 examine some papers and confer with me about certain 
 legal matters in which he still felt some interest. On 
 several previous occasions he had told me he was coming 
 over to the office "to have a long talk with me," as he 
 
390 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 expressed it. We ran over the books and arranged for 
 the completion of all unsettled and unfinished matters. In 
 some cases he had certain requests to make — certain lines 
 of procedure he wished me to observe. After these things 
 were all disposed of he crossed to the opposite side of 
 the room and threw himself down on the old office sofa, 
 which, after many years of service, had been moved 
 against the wall for support. He lay for some moments, 
 his face towards the ceiling, without either of us speaking. 
 Presently he inquired, "Billy," — he always called me by 
 that name, — "how long have we been together?" "Over 
 sixteen years," I answered. "We've never had a cross 
 word during all that time, have we?" to which I returned 
 a vehement, "No, indeed we have not." He then recalled 
 some incidents of his early practice and took great pleasure 
 in delineating the ludicrous features of many a lawsuit on 
 the circuit. It was at this last interview in Springfield 
 that he told me of the efforts that had been made by other 
 lawyers to supplant me in the partnership with him. He 
 insisted that such men were weak creatures, who, to use 
 his own language, "hoped to secure a law practice by 
 hanging to his coat-tail." I never saw him in a more 
 cheerful mood. He gathered a bundle of books and papers 
 he wished to take with him and started to go; but before 
 leaving he made the strange request that the sign-board 
 which swung on its rusty hinges at the foot of the stair- 
 way should remain. "Let it hang there undisturbed," he 
 said, with a significant lowering of his voice. "Give our 
 clients to understand that the election of a President makes 
 no change in the firm of Lincoln and Herndon. If I live 
 I'm coming back some time, and then we'll go right on prac- 
 ticing law as if nothing had ever happened." He lingered 
 for a moment as if to take a last look at the old quarters, 
 and then passed through the door into the narrow hallway. 
 I accompanied him downstairs. On the way he spoke of 
 the unpleasant features surrounding the Presidential office. 
 "I am sick of office-holding already," he complained, "and 
 I shudder when I think of the tasks that are still ahead." 
 He said the sorrow of parting from his old associates was 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 391 
 
 deeper than most persons would imagine, but it was more 
 marked in his case because of the feeling which had be- 
 come irrepressible that he would never return alive. I 
 argued against the thought, characterizing it as an illusory 
 notion not in harmony or keeping with the popular ideal 
 of a President. "But it is in keeping with my philosophy/' 
 was his quick retort. Our conversation was frequently 
 broken in upon by the interruptions of passers-by, who, 
 each in succession, seemed desirous of claiming his atten- 
 tion. At length he broke away from them all. Grasping 
 my hand warmly and with a fervent "Good-bye," he dis- 
 appeared down the street, and never came back to the 
 office again. 
 
 In answer to the many inquiries made of me, I will say 
 here that during this last interview Mr. Lincoln, for the 
 first time, brought up the subject of an office under his 
 administration. He asked me if I desired an appointment 
 at his hands, and, if so, what I wanted. I answered that 
 I had no desire for a Federal office, that I was then hold- 
 ing the office of Bank Commissioner under appointment 
 of Governor Bissell, and that if he would request my re- 
 tention in office by Yates, the incoming Governor, I should 
 be satisfied. He made the necessary recommendation, and 
 Governor Yates complied. I was present at the meeting 
 between Yates and Lincoln, and I remember that the for- 
 mer, when Lincoln urged my claims for retention in office, 
 asked Lincoln to appoint their mutual friend A. Y. Ellis 
 postmaster at Springfield. I do not remember whether 
 Lincoln promised to do so or not, but Ellis was never 
 appointed. 5 
 
 ["One incident attending this interview between Lincoln 
 and Herndon," wrote Jesse W. Weik, "and which was 
 communicated to me by the latter when I collaborated 
 with him, has thus far not been told. Herndon, un- 
 fortunately, had a decided and well-developed weakness 
 for liquor, a habit which not only militated against his 
 success as a lawyer, but seriously impaired his usefulness 
 in other respects. The appetite which manifested itself 
 
 5 Original footnote. 
 
392 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 at an early day gradually increased, the so-called sprees 
 occurring at more frequent intervals as the days rolled by. 
 Herndon, in the account which he gave me of this period 
 of his life, including the story of his deplorable and bibu- 
 lous habits, seemed to be anxious to reveal all the facts. 
 Apparently he withheld nothing. In some respects it was 
 a painful recital, but, having told everything, he appeared 
 to experience more or less relief, much after the manner 
 of the man who, being closeted with one of his closest 
 friends, makes a clean breast of his delinquency. He ad- 
 mitted that his conduct frequently was an embarrassment 
 to Lincoln who was in every respect a total abstainer him- 
 self. 'But although I have nothing to add in extenuation 
 of my offense,' he said, 'I must insist that in his treatment 
 of me Mr. Lincoln was the most generous, forebearing, 
 and charitable man I ever knew. Often though I yielded 
 to temptation he invariably refrained from joining in the 
 popular denunciation which, though not unmerited, was 
 so frequently heaped upon me. He never chided, never 
 censured, never criticized my conduct — more than that, 
 never, save on one occasion, alluded to it. That was the 
 evening we were together in our office for the last time. 
 It was near sunset. We had finished the details of our 
 business and for a while were engaged in the exchange of 
 reminiscences when suddenly, without rising from his seat, 
 he blurted out : "Billy, there's one thing I have, for some 
 time, wanted you to tell me, but I reckon I ought to 
 apologize for my nerve and curiosity in asking it even 
 now." "What is it ?" I inquired. "I want you to tell me," 
 he said, "how many times you have been drunk." It was, 
 of course, a rather blunt inquiry, but unexpected though 
 it was I realized that it came from an honest inquirer, one 
 who had a right to the information, and I therefore an- 
 swered it as promptly and definitely as the limited sources 
 of knowledge at my command would warrant. Meanwhile 
 I felt sure a lecture or moral admonition would follow and 
 prepared myself accordingly, but much to my surprise 
 nothing more was said by him on the subject. Instead he 
 relieved my tension by describing the various efforts that 
 had been made to induce him to drop me from the partner- 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 393 
 
 ship and substitute certain others, whom he named, all of 
 which was a surprise to me. He assured me that he invar- 
 iably declined the intervention of others and admonished 
 those who sought to displace me that, despite my short- 
 comings, he believed in me and therefore would not desert 
 me.' " e ] 
 
 On the morning following this last interview, the 11th 
 day of February, the Presidential party repaired to the 
 railway station, where the train which was to convey them 
 to Washington awaited the ceremony of departure. The 
 intention was to stop at many of the principal cities along 
 the route, and plenty of time had been allotted for the 
 purpose. Mr. Lincoln had told me that a man named 
 Wood had been recommended to him by Mr. Seward, and 
 he had been placed in charge of the party as a sort of gen- 
 eral manager. The party, besides the President, his wife, 
 and three sons, Robert, William, and Thomas, consisted 
 of his brother-in-law, Dr. W. S. Wallace, David Davis, 
 Norman B. Judd, Elmer E. Ellsworth, Ward H. Lamon, 
 and the President's two secretaries, John G. Nicolay and 
 John Hay. Colonel E. V. Sumner and other army gen- 
 tlemen were also in the car, and some friends of Mr. Lin- 
 coln — among them O. H. Browning, Governor Yates, and 
 ex-Governor Moore — started with the party from Spring- 
 field, but dropped out at points along the way. The day 
 was a stormy one, with dense clouds hanging heavily over- 
 head. A goodly throng of Springfield people had gathered 
 to see the distinguished party safely off. After the latter 
 had entered the car the people closed about it until the 
 President appeared on the rear platform. He stood for 
 a moment as if to suppress evidences of his emotion, and 
 removing his hat made the following brief but dignified 
 and touching address; "Friends: No one who has never 
 been placed in a like position can understand my feelings 
 at this hour, nor the oppressive sadness I feel at this part- 
 ing. For more than a quarter of a century I have lived 
 among you, and during all that time I have received noth- 
 
 6 Weik, The Real Lincoln, pp. 300-02. This passage is quoted 
 by permission of and special arrangement with Houghton Mifflin 
 Company, authorized publishers. 
 
394 LIFE 0F LINCOLN 
 
 ing but kindness at your hands. Here I have lived from 
 my youth until now I am an old man. Here the most 
 sacred ties of earth were assumed. Here all my children 
 were born ; and here one of them lies buried. To you, 
 dear friends, I owe all that I have, all that I am. All the 
 strange, checkered past seems to crowd now upon my 
 mind. Today I leave you. I go to assume a task more 
 difficult than that which devolved upon Washington. Un- 
 less the great God who assisted him shall be with and aid 
 me, I must fail ; but if the same omniscient mind and al- 
 mighty arm that directed and protected him shall guide and 
 support me I shall not fail — I shall succeed. Let us all 
 pray that the God of our fathers may not forsake us now. 
 To him I commend you all. Permit me to ask that with 
 equal sincerity and faith you will invoke his wisdom and 
 guidance for me. With these words I must leave you, for 
 how long I know not. Friends, one and all, I must now 
 bid you an affectionate farewell." 
 
 I was not present when Mr. Lincoln delivered his fare- 
 well at the depot at Springfield, and never heard what he 
 said. I have adopted the version of his speech as pub- 
 lished in our papers. There has been some controversy 
 over the exact language he used on that occasion, and Mr. 
 Nicolay has recently published the speech from what he 
 says is the original MS., partly in his own and partly in 
 the handwriting of Mr. Lincoln. Substantially, however, 
 it is like the speech as reproduced here from the Spring- 
 field paper. 7 
 
 7 Following is the Nicolay version to which Herndon refers : 
 "My Friends : No one, not in my situation, can appreciate 
 my feeling of sadness at this parting. To this place, and the 
 kindness of these people, I owe everything. Here I have lived 
 a quarter of a century, and have passed from a young to an old 
 man. Here my children have been born, and one is buried. I 
 now leave, not knowing when or whether ever I may return, 
 with a task before me greater than that which rested upon Wash- 
 ington. Without the assistance of that Divine Being who ever 
 attended him, I cannot succeed. With that assistance, I cannot 
 fail. Trusting in Him who can go with me, and remain with 
 you, and be everywhere for good, let us confidently hope that 
 all will yet be well. To His care commending you, as I hope in 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 395 
 
 At the conclusion of this neat and appropriate farewell 
 the train rolled slowly out, and Mr. Lincoln, still standing 
 in the doorway of the rear car, took his last view of 
 Springfield. The journey had been as well advertised as 
 it had been carefully planned, and therefore, at every town 
 along the route, and at every stop, great crowds were 
 gathered to catch a glimpse of the President-elect. 8 Mr. 
 Lincoln usually gratified the wishes of the crowds, who 
 called him out for a speech whether it was down on the 
 
 your prayers you will commend me, I bid you an affectionate 
 farewell." 
 
 The paragraph to which this note is appended and the one 
 
 which follows it were originally footnotes. 
 
 8 The following letter, used by Herndon as a footnote, explains 
 Lincoln's decision to grow a beard : 
 
 "Before Mr. Lincoln's election in 1860 I, then a child of 
 eleven years, was presented with his lithograph. Admiring him 
 with my whole heart, I thought still his appearance would be 
 much improved should he cultivate his whiskers. Childish thoughts 
 must have utterance. So I proposed the idea to him, expressing 
 as well as I was able the esteem in which he was held among 
 honest men. A few days after I received this kind and friendly 
 letter : 
 
 " 'Springfield, III., October 19, 1860. 
 
 " 'Miss Grace Bedell. 
 
 " 'My Dear Little Miss : — Your very agreeable letter of the 
 15th is received. I regret the necessity of saying I have no 
 daughter. I have three sons — one seventeen, one nine, and one 
 seven. They with their mother constitute my whole family. As 
 to the whiskers, as I have never worn any, do you not think 
 that people would call it a piece of silly affectation were I to 
 begin wearing them now? 
 
 " 'I am your true friend and sincere well-wisher. 
 
 " 'A. Lincoln.' 
 
 "It appears I was not forgotten, for after his election to the 
 Presidency, while on his journey to Washington, the train stopped 
 at Westfield, Chautauqua County, at which place I then resided. 
 Mr. Lincoln said, T have a correspondent in this place, a little 
 girl whose name is Grace Bedell, and I would like to see her.* 
 I was conveyed to him; he stepped from the cars, extending his 
 hand and saying, 'You see I have let these whiskers grow for 
 you, Grace,' kissed me, shook me cordially by the hand, and 
 was gone. I was frequently afterward assured of his remem- 
 brance.' " Grace Bedell to Herndon, Dec. 14, 1866. 
 
396 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 regular program of movements or not. In all cases his 
 remarks were well-timed and sensibly uttered. At In- 
 dianapolis, where the Legislature was in session, he halted 
 for a day and delivered a speech the burden of which was 
 an answer to the Southern charges of coercion and in- 
 vasion. From Indianapolis he moved on to Cincinnati and 
 Columbus, at the last-named place meeting the Legislature 
 of Ohio. The remainder of the journey convinced Mr. 
 Lincoln of his strength in the affections of the people. 
 Many, no doubt, were full of curiosity to see the now 
 famous rail-splitter, but all were outspoken and earnest in 
 their assurances of support. At Steubenville, Pittsburgh, 
 Cleveland, Buffalo, Albany, New York, and Philadelphia 
 he made manly and patriotic speeches. These speeches, 
 plain in language and simple in illustration, made every 
 man who heard them a stronger friend than ever of the 
 Government. He was skilful enough to warn the people 
 of the danger ahead and to impress them with his ability 
 to deal properly with the situation, without in any case 
 outlining his intended policy or revealing the forces he 
 held in reserve. At Pittsburgh he advised deliberation and 
 begged the American people to keep their temper on both 
 sides of the line. At Cleveland he insisted that "the crisis, 
 as it is called, is an artificial crisis and has no foundation 
 in fact ;" and at Philadelphia he assured his listeners that 
 under his administration there would be "no bloodshed 
 unless it was forced upon the Government, and then it 
 would be compelled to act in self-defense." This last 
 utterance was made in front of Independence Hall, where, 
 a few moments before, he had unfurled to the breeze a 
 magnificent new flag, an impressive ceremony performed 
 amid the cheers swelling from the vast sea of upturned 
 faces before him. From Philadelphia his journey took 
 him to Harrisburg, where he visited both branches of the 
 Legislature then in session. For an account of the re- 
 mainder of this now famous trip I beg to quote from th^ 
 admirable narrative of Dr. Holland. Describing the wel- 
 come tendered him by the Legislature at Harrisburg, the 
 latter says: "At the conclusion of the exercises of the 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 397 
 
 day Mr. Lincoln, who was known to be very weary, was 
 permitted to pass undisturbed to his apartments in the 
 Jones House. It was popularly understood that he was 
 to start for Washington the next morning, and the people 
 of Harrisburg supposed they had only taken a temporary 
 leave of him. He remained in his rooms until nearly six 
 o'clock, when he passed into the street, entered a carriage 
 unobserved in company with Colonel Lamon, and was 
 driven to a special train on the Pennsylvania railroad in 
 waiting for him. As a matter of precaution the telegraph 
 wires were cut the moment he left Harrisburg, so that if 
 his departure should be discovered intelligence of it could 
 not be communicated at a distance. At half -past ten the 
 train arrived at Philadelphia, and here Mr. Lincoln was 
 met by a detective, who had a carriage in readiness in 
 which the party were driven to the depot of the Philadel- 
 phia, Wilmington, and Baltimore railroad. At a quarter 
 past eleven they arrived and very fortunately found the 
 regular train, which should have left at eleven, delayed. 
 The party took berths in the sleeping-car, and without 
 change of cars passed directly through Baltimore to Wash- 
 ington, where Mr. Lincoln arrived at half-past six o'clock 
 in the morning and found Mr. Washburne anxiously await- 
 ing him. He was taken into a carriage and in a few minutes 
 he was talking over his adventures with Senator Seward 
 at Willard's Hotel. " The remaining members of the 
 Presidential party from whom Mr. Lincoln separated at 
 Harrisburg left that place on the special train intended for 
 him; and as news of his safe arrival in Washington had 
 been already telegraphed over the country no attempt was 
 made to interrupt their safe passage through Baltimore. 
 As is now generally well known many threats had up to 
 that time been made that Mr. Lincoln, on his way to 
 Washington, should never pass through Baltimore alive. 
 It was reported and believed that conspiracies had been 
 formed to attack the train, blow it up with explosives or 
 in some equally effective way dispose of the President- 
 elect. Mr. Seward and others were so deeply impressed 
 with the grave features of the reports afloat that Allan 
 
398 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 Pinkerton, the noted detective of Chicago, was employed 
 to investigate the matter and ferret out the conspiracy, if 
 any existed. This shrewd operator went to Baltimore, 
 opened an office as a stock-broker, and through his assist- 
 ants — the most adroit and serviceable of whom was a 
 woman — was soon in possession of inside information. 
 The change of plans and trains at Harrisburg was due 
 to his management and advice. Some years before his 
 death Mr. Pinkerton furnished me with a large volume 
 of the written reports of his subordinates and an elaborate 
 account by himself of the conspiracy and the means he 
 employed to ferret it out. The narrative, thrilling enough 
 in some particulars, is too extended for insertion here. 
 It is enough for us to know that the tragedy was success- 
 fully averted and that Mr. Lincoln was safely landed in 
 Washington. 
 
 In January preceding his departure from Springfield 
 Mr. Lincoln, becoming somewhat annoyed, not to say 
 alarmed, at the threats emanating from Baltimore and 
 other portions of the country adjacent to Washington, 
 that he should not reach the latter place alive, and that 
 even if successful in reaching the Capital his inauguration 
 should in some way be prevented, determined to ascertain 
 for himself what protection would be given him in case 
 an efifort should be made by an individual or a mob to do 
 him violence. He sent a young military officer in the per- 
 son of Thomas Mather, then Adjutant-General of Illinois, 
 to Washington with a letter to General Scott, in which he 
 recounted the threats he had heard and ventured to in- 
 quire as to the probability of any attempt at his life being 
 made on the occasion of his inauguration. General 
 Mather, on his arrival in Washington, found General Scott 
 confined to his room by illness and unable to see visitors. 
 On Mather calling a second time and sending in his letter 
 he was invited up to the sick man's chamber. "Entering 
 the room," related Mather in later years, "I found the 
 old warrior, grizzly and wrinkled, propped up in the bed 
 by an embankment of pillows behind his back. His hair 
 and beard were considerably disordered, the flesh seemed 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 399 
 
 to lay in rolls across his warty face and neck, and his 
 breathing was not without great labor. In his hand he 
 still held Lincoln's letter. He was weak from long-con- 
 tinued illness, and trembled very perceptibly. It was evi- 
 dent that the message from Lincoln had wrought up the 
 old veteran's feelings. 'General Mather/ he said to me, in 
 great agitation, 'present my compliments to Mr. Lincoln 
 when you return to Springfield, and tell him I expect him 
 to come on to Washington as soon as he is ready. Say 
 to him that Fll look after those Maryland and Virginia 
 rangers myself ; I'll plant cannon at both ends of Pennsyl- 
 vania Avenue, and if any of them show their heads or 
 raise a finger I'll blow them to hell.' On my return to 
 Springfield," concludes Mather, "I hastened to assure Mr. 
 Lincoln that, if Scott were alive on the day of the inaugu- 
 ration, there need be no alarm lest the performance be 
 interrupted by any one. I felt certain the hero of Lundy's 
 Lane would give the matter the care and attention it de- 
 served." 
 
 Having at last reached his destination in safety, Mr. 
 Lincoln spent the few days preceding his inauguration at 
 Willard's Hotel, receiving an uninterrupted stream of 
 visitors and friends. In the few unoccupied moments 
 allotted him, he was carefully revising his inaugural ad- 
 dress. On the morning of the 4th of March he rode from 
 his hotel with Mr. Buchanan in an open barouche to the 
 Capitol. There, slightly pale and nervous, he was intro- 
 duced to the assembled multitude by his old friend Edward 
 D. Baker, and in a fervid and impressive manner delivered 
 his address. At its conclusion the customary oath was 
 administered by the venerable Chief Justice Taney, and 
 he was now clothed with all the powers and privileges of 
 Chief Magistrate of the nation. He accompanied Mr. 
 Buchanan to the White House and here the historic bache- 
 lor of Lancaster bade him farewell, bespeaking for him a 
 peaceful, prosperous, and successful administration. 
 
 One who witnessed the impressive scene left the fol- 
 lowing graphic description of the inauguration and its 
 principal incidents : "Near noon I found myself a member 
 
400 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 of the motley crowd gathered about the side entrance to 
 Willard's Hotel. Soon an open barouche drove up, and 
 the only occupant stepped out. A large, heavy, awkward- 
 moving man, far advanced in years, short and thin gray 
 hair, full face, plentifully seamed and wrinkled, head curi- 
 ously inclined to the left shoulder, a low-crowned, broad- 
 brimmed silk hat, an immense white cravat like a poultice, 
 thrusting the old-fashioned standing collar up to the ears, 
 dressed in black throughout, with swallow-tail coat not of 
 the newest style. It was President Buchanan, calling to 
 take his successor to the Capitol. In a few minutes he 
 reappeared, with Mr. Lincoln on his arm; the two took 
 seats side-by-side, and the carriage rolled away, followed 
 by a rather disorderly and certainly not very imposing 
 procession. I had ample time to walk to the Capitol, and 
 no difficulty in securing a place where everything could be 
 seen and heard to the best advantage. The attendance at 
 the inauguration was, they told me, unusually small, many 
 being kept away by anticipated disturbance, as it had been 
 rumored — truly, too — that General Scott himself was fear- 
 ful of an outbreak, and had made all possible military 
 preparations to meet the emergency. A square platform 
 had been built out from the steps to the eastern portico, 
 with benches for distinguished spectators on three sides. 
 Douglas, the only one I recognized, sat at the extreme 
 end of the seat on the right of the narrow passage leading 
 from the steps. There was no delay, and the gaunt form 
 of the President-elect was soon visible, slowly making his 
 way to the front. To me, at least, he was completely 
 metamorphosed — partly by his own fault, and partly 
 through the efforts of injudicious friends and ambitious 
 tailors. He was raising (to gratify a very young lady, 
 it is said) a crop of whiskers, of the blacking-brush va- 
 riety, coarse, stiff, and ungraceful ; and in so doing spoiled, 
 or at least seriously impaired, a face which, though never 
 handsome, had in its original state a peculiar power and 
 pathos. On the present occasion the whiskers were rein- 
 forced by brand-new clothes from top to toe ; black dress- 
 coat, instead of the usual frock, black cloth or satin vest, 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 401 
 
 black pantaloons, and a glossy hat evidently just out of 
 the box. To cap the climax of novelty, he carried a huge 
 ebony cane, with a gold head the size of an egg. In these, 
 to him, strange habiliments, he looked so miserably un- 
 comfortable that I could not help pitying him. Reaching 
 the platform, his discomfort was visibly increased by not 
 knowing what to do with hat and cane; and so he stood 
 there, the target for ten thousand eyes, holding cane in 
 one hand and hat in the other, the very picture of helpless 
 embarrassment. After some hesitation he pushed the cane 
 into a corner of the railing, but could not find a place for 
 the hat except on the floor, where I could see he did not 
 like to risk it. Douglas, who fully took in the situation, 
 came to the rescue of his old friend and rival, and held the 
 precious hat until the owner needed it again; a service 
 which, if predicted two years before, would probably have 
 astonished him. The oath of office was administered by 
 Chief Justice Taney, whose black robes, attenuated figure, 
 and cadaverous countenance reminded me of a galvanized 
 corpse. Then the President came forward, and read his 
 inaugural address in a clear and distinct voice. It was at- 
 tentively listened to by all, but the closest listener was 
 Douglas, who leaned forward as if to catch every word, 
 nodding his head emphatically at those passages which 
 most pleased him. There was some applause, not very 
 much nor very enthusiastic. I must not forget to mention 
 the presence of a Mephistopheles in the person of Senator 
 Wigfall, of Texas, who stood with folded arms leaning 
 against the doorway of the Capitol, looking down upon 
 the crowd and the ceremony with a contemptuous air, 
 which sufficiently indicated his opinion of the whole per- 
 formance. To him the Southern Confederacy was already 
 an accomplished fact. He lived to see it the saddest of 
 fictions." 
 
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN 
 
 LINCOLN, THE PRESIDENT, DID NOT DIFFER GREATLY FROM 
 
 Lincoln the lawyer and politician. In the latter capacity 
 only had his old friends in Illinois known him. For a 
 long time after taking his seat they were curious to know 
 what change, if any, his exalted station had made in him. 
 He was no longer amid people who had seen him grow 
 from the village lawyer to the highest rank in the land, 
 and whose hands he could grasp in the confidence of a 
 time-tried friendship; but now he was surrounded by 
 wealth, power, fashion, influence, by adroit politicians and 
 artful schemers of every sort. In the past his Illinois and 
 particularly his Springfield friends had shared the anxiety 
 and responsibility of every step he made ; but now they 
 were no longer to continue in the partnership. Many of 
 them wanted no office, but all of them felt great interest 
 as well as pride in his future. A few attempted to keep up 
 a correspondence with him, but his answers were tardy and 
 irregular. Because he did not appoint a goodly portion of 
 his early associates to comfortable offices, and did not 
 interest himself in the welfare of everyone whom he had 
 known in Illinois, or met while on the circuit, the erroneous 
 impression grew that his elevation had turned his head. 
 There was no foundation for such an unwarranted con- 
 clusion. 
 
 Lincoln, even after his elevation to the Presidency, al- 
 ways had an eye out for his friends, as the following 
 letters will abundantly prove: 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 403 
 
 "Executive Mansion, Washington, April 20, 1864. 
 "Calvin Truesdale, Esq. 
 
 "Postmaster, Rock Island, III. : 
 "Thomas J. Pickett, late agent for the Quartermaster's De- 
 partment for the Island of Rock Island, has been removed or 
 suspended from that position on a charge of having sold timber 
 and stone from the island for his private benefit. Mr. Pickett 
 is an old acquaintance and friend of mine, and I will thank 
 you, if you will, to set a day or days and place on and at 
 which to take testimony on the point. Notify Mr. Pickett 
 and one J. B. Danforth (who as I understand makes the 
 charge) to be present with their witnesses. Take the testi- 
 mony in writing offered by both sides, and report it in full 
 to me. Please do this for me. 
 
 "Yours truly, 
 
 "A. Lincoln." 
 
 The man Pickett was formerly the editor of a news- 
 paper in northern Illinois, and had, to use an expression 
 of later days, inaugurated in the columns of his paper 
 Lincoln's boom for the Presidency. When he afterwards 
 fell under suspicion, no one came to his rescue sooner 
 than the President himself. 
 
 The following letter needs no explanation: 
 
 "Executive Mansion, Washington, August 27, 1862. 
 "Hon. Wash. Talcott. 
 
 "My Dear Sir: — I have determined to appoint you collec- 
 tor. I now have a very special request to make of you, which 
 is, that you will make no war upon Mr. Washburne, who is 
 also my friend, and of longer standing than yourself. I will 
 even be obliged if you can do something for him if occasion 
 presents. 
 
 "Yours truly, 
 
 "A. Lincoln." 
 
 Mr. Talcott, to whom it was addressed, was furnished 
 a letter of introduction by the President, as follows : 
 
 "The Secretary of the Treasury and the Commissioner of 
 Internal Revenue will please see Mr. Talcott, one of the best 
 
404 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 men there is, and, if any difference, one they would like better 
 than they do me. 
 
 "A. Lincoln." x 
 August 18, 1862. 
 
 Lincoln had not changed a particle. He was overrun 
 with cares ; his surroundings were different and his friends 
 were new, but he himself was the same calm, just, and 
 devoted friend as of yore. His letters were few and brief, 
 but they showed no lack of gratitude or appreciation, as 
 the following one to me will testify: 
 
 "Executive Mansion, February 3, 1862. 
 "Dear William : — 
 
 "Yours of January 30th is just received. Do just as you 
 say about the money matters. As you well know, I have not 
 time enough to write a letter of respectable length. God bless 
 you, says 
 
 "Your friend, 
 
 "A. Lincoln." 2 
 
 His letters to others were of the same warm and gen- 
 erous tenor, but yet the foolish notion prevailed that he 
 had learned to disregard the condition and claims of his 
 Springfield friends. One of the latter who visited Wash- 
 ington returned somewhat displeased because Mr. Lin- 
 coln failed to inquire after the health and welfare of each 
 one of his old neighbors. The report spread that he cared 
 nothing for his home or the friends who had made him 
 what he was. Those who entertained this opinion of the 
 man forgot that he was not exactly the property of Spring- 
 field and Illinois, but the President of all the States in 
 the Union. 
 
 The following letter from a disappointed Illinois friend 
 will serve to illustrate the perplexities that beset Lincoln in 
 
 1 Herndon originally used the letters to Truesdale and Talcott 
 as a footnote. 
 
 2 In a footnote to this letter Herndon printed the following 
 telegram, dispatched to him by Lincoln on February 19, 1863 : 
 
 " Would you accept a job of about a month's duration, at St. 
 Louis, $5 a day and mileage? Answer. A. Lincoln." 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 405 
 
 disposing of the claims of personal friendship. It was 
 written by a man of no inconsiderable reputation in Illi- 
 nois, where he at one time filled a State office: "Lincoln 
 is a singular man, and I must confess I never knew him. 
 He has for twenty years past used me as a plaything to 
 accomplish his own ends ; but the moment he was elevated 
 to his proud position he seems all at once to have entirely 
 changed his whole nature and become altogether a new 
 being. He knows no one, and the road to his favor is 
 always open to his enemies, while the door is hermetically 
 sealed to his old friends. " 3 
 
 In this connection it may not be out of order to refer 
 briefly to the settlement by Mr. Lincoln of the claims his 
 leading Illinois friends had on him. As before observed 
 his own election to the Presidency canceled Illinois as a 
 factor in the cabinet problem, but in no wise disposed of 
 the friends whom the public expected and whom he him- 
 self intended should be provided for. Of these latter the 
 oldest and most zealous and effective was David Davis. ("I 
 had done Lincoln many, many favors, had electioneered 
 for him, spent my money for him, worked and toiled for 
 him," said Davis in 1866.) It is not extravagance, taking 
 their long association together in mind, to say that Davis 
 had done more for Lincoln than any dozen other friends 
 he had. Of course, after Lincoln was securely installed in 
 office, the people, especially in Illinois, awaited his recog- 
 nition of Davis. What was finally done is minutely told 
 in a letter by Leonard Swett, which it is proper here to 
 insert : 
 
 "Chicago, III., August 29, 1887. 
 "William H. Herndon. 
 
 "My Dear Sir: — Your inquiry in reference to the circum- 
 stances of the appointment of David Davis as one of the 
 Justices of the Supreme Court reached me last evening. In 
 reply I beg leave to recall the fact, that in 1860 the politicians 
 of Illinois were divided into three divisions, which were 
 represented in the Decatur convention by the votes on the 
 
 3 This paragraph, and the statement of Davis in the following 
 one, were originally footnotes. 
 
406 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 nomination for Governor. The largest vote was for Norman 
 B. Judd, of Chicago, his strength in the main being the north- 
 ern part of the State. I was next in order of strength, and 
 Richard Yates the third, but the divisions were not materially 
 unequal. The result was Yates was nominated, his strength 
 being about Springfield and Jacksonville, extending to Quincy 
 on the west, and mine was at Bloomington and vicinity and 
 south and southeast. 
 
 'These divisions were kept up a while after Mr. Lincoln's 
 election, and were considered in the distribution of Federal 
 patronage. A vacancy in the United States Senate occurred 
 early in 1861 by the death of Stephen A. Douglas, and 
 Governor Yates appointed Orville H. Browning, of Quincy, to 
 fill the vacancy. There was also a vacancy upon the Su- 
 preme Bench of the United States to be filled from this general 
 vicinity by Mr. Lincoln in the early part of his administration, 
 and Judge Davis, of Bloomington, and Mr. Browning, of 
 Quincy, were aspirants for the position. Mr. Browning had 
 the advantage that Lincoln was new in his seat, and Sen- 
 ators were august personages ; and, being in the Senate and a 
 most courteous and able gentleman, Mr. Browning succeeded 
 in securing nearly all the senatorial strength, and Mr. Lincoln 
 was nearly swept off his feet by the current of influence. 
 Davis' supporters were the circuit lawyers mainly in the east- 
 ern and central part of the State. These lawyers were at 
 home, and their presence was not a living force felt constantly 
 by the President at Washington. 
 
 "I was then living at Bloomington, and met Judge Davis 
 every day. As months elapsed we used to get word from 
 Washington in reference to the condition of things ; finally, 
 one day the word came that Lincoln had said, T do not know 
 what I may do when the time comes, but there has never been 
 a day when if I had to act I should not have appointed Brown- 
 ing/ Judge Davis, General Orme, and myself held a consulta- 
 tion in my law-office at Bloomington. We decided that the 
 remark was too Lincolnian to be mistaken and no man but he 
 could have put the situation so quaintly. We decided also that 
 the appointment was gone, and sat there glum over the situa- 
 tion. I finally broke the silence, saying in substance, 'The 
 appointment is gone and I am going to pack my carpet-sack 
 for Washington/ 'No, you are not/ said Davis. 'Yes, I am/ 
 was my reply. 'Lincoln is being swept off his feet by the in- 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 407 
 
 fluence of these Senators, and I will have the luxury of one 
 more talk with him before he acts.' 
 
 U I did go home, and two days thereafter, in the morning 
 about seven o'clock — for I knew Mr. Lincoln's habits well — 
 was at the White House and spent most of the forenoon with 
 him. I tried to impress upon him that he had been brought 
 into prominence by the Circuit Court lawyers of the old eighth 
 Circuit, headed by Judge Davis. 'If/ I said, 'Judge Davis, 
 with his tact and force, had not lived, and all other things had 
 been as they were, I believe you would not now be sitting 
 where you are/ He replied gravely, 'Yes, that is so/ 'Now 
 it is a common law of mankind/ said I, 'that one raised into 
 prominence is expected to recognize the force that lifts him, 
 or, if from a pinch, the force that lets him out. The Czar 
 Nicholas was once attacked by an assassin; a kindly hand 
 warded off the blow and saved his life. The Czar hunted out 
 the owner of that hand and strewed his pathway with flowers 
 through life. The Emperor Napoleon III has hunted out 
 everybody who even tossed him a biscuit in his prison at Ham 
 and has made him rich. Here is Judge Davis, whom you 
 know to be in every respect qualified for this position, and 
 you ought in justice to yourself and public expectation to give 
 him this place/ We had an earnest pleasant forenoon, and I 
 thought I had the best of the argument, and I think he thought 
 so too. 
 
 "I left him and went to Willard's Hotel to think over the 
 interview, and there a new thought struck me. I therefore 
 wrote a letter to Mr. Lincoln and returned to the White 
 House. Getting in, I read it to him and left it with him. It 
 was, in substance, that he might think if he gave Davis this 
 place the latter when he got to Washington would not give 
 him any peace until he gave me a place equally as good; that 
 I recognized the fact that he could not give this place to 
 Davis, which would be charged to the Bloomington faction 
 in our State politics, and then give me anything I would have 
 and be just to the party there; that this appointment, if made, 
 should kill 'two birds with one stone' ; that I would accept it 
 as one-half for me and one-half for the Judge ; and that there- 
 after, if I or any of my friends ever troubled him, he could 
 draw that letter as a plea in bar on that subject. As I read 
 it Lincoln said, Tf you mean that among friends as it reads I 
 will take it and make the appointment/ He at once did as 
 he said. 
 
408 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 "He then made a request of the Judge after his appoint- 
 ment in reference to a clerk in his circuit, and wrote him a 
 notice of the appointment, which Davis received the same af- 
 ternoon I returned to Bloomington. 
 
 "Judge Davis was about fifteen years my senior. I had 
 come to his circuit at the age of twenty-four, and between 
 him and Lincoln I had grown up leaning in hours of weak- 
 ness on their own great arms for support. I was glad of the 
 opportunity to put in the mite of my claims upon Lincoln and 
 give it to Davis, and have been glad I did it every day since. 
 
 "An unknown number of people have almost every week 
 since, speaking perhaps extravagantly, asked me in a quasi- 
 confidential manner. 'How was it that you and Lincoln were 
 so intimate and he never gave you anything ?' I have generally 
 said, 'It seems to me that is my question, and so long as I 
 don't complain I do not see why you should/ I may be par- 
 doned also for saying that I have not considerd every man 
 not holding an office out of place in life. I got my eyes open 
 on this subject before I got an office, and as in Washington I 
 saw the Congressman in decline I prayed that my latter end 
 might not be like his. 
 
 "Yours truly, 
 
 "Leonard Swett." 
 
 Before his departure for Washington, Mr. Lincoln had 
 on several occasions referred in my presence to the gravity 
 of the national questions that stared him in the face; yet 
 from what he said I caught no definite idea of what his 
 intentions were. He told me he would rely upon me to 
 keep him informed of the situation about home, what his 
 friends were saying of him, and whether his course was 
 meeting with their approval. He suggested that I should 
 write him frequently, and that arrangements would be 
 made with his private secretary, Mr. Nicolay, that my let- 
 ters should pass through the latter's hands unopened. This 
 plan was adhered to, and I have every reason now to be- 
 lieve that all my letters to Lincoln, although they contained 
 no great secrets of state, passed unread into his hands. I 
 was what the newspaper men would call a "frequent con- 
 tributor. ,, I wrote oftener than he answered, sometimes 
 remitting him his share of old fees, sometimes dilating on 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 409 
 
 national affairs, but generally confining myself to local 
 politics and news in and around Springfield. I remember 
 of writing him two copious letters, one on the necessity 
 of keeping up the draft, the other admonishing him to 
 hasten his Proclamation of Emancipation. In the latter 
 I was especially fervid, assuring him, if he emancipated 
 the slaves, he could "go down on the other side of life 
 filled with the consciousness of duty well done, and along 
 a pathway blazing w T ith eternal glory/' How my rhetoric 
 or sentiments struck him I never learned, for in the rush 
 of executive business he never responded to either of the 
 letters. Late in the summer of 1861, as elsewhere men- 
 tioned in these chapters, I made my first and only visit 
 to Washington while he was President. My mission was 
 intended to promote the prospects of a brother-in-law, 
 Charles W. Chatterton, who desired to lay claim to an 
 office in the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Mr. Lincoln ac- 
 companied me to the office of the Commissioner of Indian 
 Affairs, — William P. Dole of Paris, Illinois, — told a good 
 story, and made the request which secured the coveted 
 office — an Indian agency — in an amazingly short time. 
 This was one of the few favors I asked of Mr. Lincoln, 
 and he granted it "speedily — without delay; freely — with- 
 out purchase; and fully — without denial. " I remained in 
 Washington for several days after this, and, notwith- 
 standing the pressure of business, he made me spend a 
 good portion of the time at the White House. One thing 
 he could scarcely cease from referring to was the per- 
 sistence of the office-seekers. They slipped in, he said, 
 through the half-opened doors of the Executive Mansion; 
 they dogged his steps if he walked ; they edged their way 
 through the crowds and thrust their papers in his hands 
 when he rode; 4 and, taking it all in all, they well-nigh 
 
 4 In a footnote Herndon incorporated Lincoln's account of an 
 extreme incident: "He said that one day, as he was passing 
 down Pennsylvania Avenue, a man came running after him, hailed 
 him, and thrust a bundle of papers in his hands. It angered 
 him not a little, and he pitched the papers back, saying, Tm 
 wot going to open shop here\" 
 
410 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 worried him to death. He said that, if the Government 
 passed through the Rebellion without dismemberment, 
 there was the strongest danger of its falling a prey to the 
 rapacity of the office-seeking class. "This human struggle 
 and scramble for office, " were his words, "for a way to 
 live without work, will finally test the strength of our 
 institutions. " A good part of the day during my stay 
 I would spend with him in his office or waiting-room. I 
 saw the endless line of callers, and met the scores of 
 dignitaries one usually meets at the White House, even 
 now; but nothing took place worthy of special mention 
 here. One day Horace Maynard and Andrew Johnson, 
 both senators from Tennessee, came in arm-in-arm. They 
 declined to sit down, but at once set to work to discuss 
 with the President his recent action in some case in which 
 they were interested. Maynard seemed very earnest in 
 what he said. "Beware, Mr. President, " he said, "and do 
 not go too fast. There is danger ahead. " "I know that," 
 responded Lincoln, good-naturedly, "but I shall go just so 
 fast and only so fast as I think I'm right and the people 
 are ready for the step." Hardly half-a-dozen words fol- 
 lowed, when the pair wheeled around and walked away. 
 The day following I left Washington for home. I sepa- 
 rated from Mr. Lincoln at the White house. He followed 
 me to the rear portico, where I entered the carriage to ride 
 to the railroad depot. He grasped me warmly by the hand 
 and bade me a fervent "Good-bye." It was the last time 
 I ever saw him alive. 
 
 Mrs. Ninian Edwards, who, it will be remembered, was 
 the sister of Mrs. Lincoln, some time before her death 
 furnished me an account of her visit to Washington, some 
 of the incidents of which are so characteristic that I cannot 
 refrain from giving them room here. This lady, without 
 endeavoring to suppress mention of her sister's many 
 caprices and eccentricities while mistress of the White 
 House, remarked that, having been often solicited by the 
 Lincolns to visit them, she and her husband, in answer to 
 the cordial invitation, at last made the journey to Wash- 
 ington. "One day while there," she relates, "in order to 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 411 
 
 calm his mind, to turn his attention away from business 
 and cheer him up, I took Mr. Lincoln down through the 
 conservatory belonging to the Executive Mansion, and 
 showed him the world of flowers represented there. He 
 followed me patiently through. 'How beautiful these 
 flowers are ! how gorgeous these roses ! Here are exotics/ 
 I exclaimed, in admiration, 'gathered from the remotest 
 corners of the earth, and grand beyond description/ A 
 moody silence followed, broken finally by Mr. Lincoln with 
 this observation : 'Yes, this whole thing looks like spring ; 
 but do you know I have never been in here before. I 
 don't know why it is so, but I never cared for flowers ; I 
 seem to have no taste, natural or acquired, for such things/ 
 I induced him one day," continued Mrs. Edwards, "to 
 walk to the Park north of the White House. He hadn't 
 been there, he said, for a year. On such occasions, when 
 alone or in the company of a close friend, and released 
 from the restraint of his official surroundings, he was 
 wont to throw from his shoulders many a burden. He 
 was a man I loved and respected. He was a good man, 
 an honest and true one. Much of his seeming disregard, 
 which ha.s been tortured into ingratitude, was due to his 
 peculiar construction. His habits, like himself, were odd 
 and wholly irregular. He would move around in a vague, 
 abstracted way, as if unconscious of his own or anyone 
 else's existence. He had no expressed fondness for any- 
 thing, and ate mechanically. I have seen him sit down 
 at the table absorbed in thought, and never, unless re- 
 called to his senses, would he think of food. But, how- 
 ever peculiar and secretive he may have seemed, he was 
 anything but cold. Beneath what the world saw lurked 
 a nature as tender and poetic as any I ever knew. The 
 death of his son Willie, which occurred in Washington, 
 made a deep impression on him. It was the first death in 
 his family, save an infant who died a few days after its 
 birth in Springfield. On the evening we strolled through 
 the Park he spoke of it with deep feeling, and he fre- 
 quently afterward referred to it. When I announced my 
 intention of leaving Washington he was much affected 
 
412 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 at the news of my departure. We were strolling through 
 the White House grounds, when he begged me with tears 
 in his eyes to remain longer. 'You have such strong con- 
 trol and such an influence over Mary,' he contended, 'that 
 when troubles come you can console me/ The picture of 
 the man's despair never faded from my vision. Long af- 
 ter my return to Springfield, on reverting to the sad sepa- 
 ration, my heart ached because I was unable in my feeble 
 way to lighten his burden." 
 
 In the summer of 1866 I wrote to Mrs. Lincoln, then 
 in Chicago, asking for a brief account of her own and her 
 husband's life or mode of living w T hile at the White House. 
 She responded as follows : 
 
 "375 West Washington Street, 
 
 Chicago, III., August 28, 1866. 
 "Hon. Wm. H. Herndon. 
 
 "My Dear Sir : — Owing to Robert's absence from Chicago 
 your last letter to him was only shown me last evening. The 
 recollection of my beloved husband's truly affectionate regard 
 for you, and the knowledge of your great love and reverence 
 for the best man that ever lived, would of itself cause you to 
 be cherished with the sincerest regard by my sons and myself. 
 In my overwhelming bereavement those who loved my idolized 
 husband aside from disinterested motives are very precious 
 to me and mine. My grief has been so uncontrollable that, 
 in consequence, I have been obliged to bury myself in solitude, 
 knowing that many whom I would see could not fully enter 
 into the state of my feelings. I have been thinking for some 
 time past I would like to see you and have a long conversation. 
 I wish to know if you will be in Springfield next Wednesday 
 week, September 4; if so, at ten o'clock in the morning you 
 will find me at the St. Nicholas Hotel. Please mention this 
 visit to Springfield to no one. It is a most sacred one, as 
 you may suppose, to visit the tomb which contains my all in 
 life — my husband. ... If it will not be convenient, or if 
 business at the time specified should require your absence, 
 should you visit Chicago any day this week I will be pleased 
 to see you. I remain, 
 
 "Very truly, 
 
 "Mary Lincoln." 
 

 LIFE OF LINCOLN 413 
 
 I met Mrs. Lincoln at the hotel in Springfield accord- 
 ing to appointment. Our interview was somewhat ex- 
 tended in range, but none the less interesting. Her state- 
 ment made at the time now lies before me. "My husband 
 intended/' she said, "when he was through with his Presi- 
 dential term, to take me and our boys with him to Europe. 
 After his return from Europe he intended to cross the 
 Rocky Mountains and go to California, where the sol- 
 diers were to be digging out gold to pay the national debt. 
 During his last days he and Senator Sumner became great 
 friends, and were closely attached to each other. They 
 were down the river after Richmond was taken — were full 
 of joy and gladness at the thought of the war being over. 
 Up to 1864 Mr. Lincoln wanted to live in Springfield, 
 and if he died be buried there also ; but after that and 
 only a short time before his death he changed his mind 
 slightly, but never really settled on any particular place. 
 The last time I remember of his referring to the matter he 
 said he thought it would be good for himself and me to 
 spend a year or more travelling. As to his nature, he was 
 the kindest man, most tender husband, and loving father 
 in the world. He gave us all unbounded liberty, saying 
 to me always when I asked for anything, 'You know what 
 you want, go and get it/ and never asking if it were neces- 
 sary. He was very indulgent to his children. He never 
 neglected to praise them for any of their good acts. He 
 often said, 'It is my pleasure that my children are free 
 and happy, and unrestrained by parental tyranny. Love 
 is the chain whereby to bind a child to its parents/ 
 
 "My husband placed great reliance on my knowledge of 
 human nature, often telling me, when about to make some 
 important appointment, that he had no knowledge of men 
 and their motives. It was his intention to remove Seward 
 as soon as peace with the South was declared. He greatly 
 disliked Andrew Johnson. Once the latter, when we were 
 in company, followed us around not a little. It displeased 
 Mr. Lincoln so much he turned abruptly and asked, loud 
 enough to be heard by others, 'Why is this man forever 
 following me?' At another time, when we were down at 
 
414 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 City Point, Johnson, still following us, was drunk. Mr. 
 Lincoln in desperation exclaimed, 'For God's sake don't 
 ask Johnson to dine with us/ Sumner, who was along, 
 joined in the request. Mr. Lincoln was mild in his man- 
 ners, but he was a terribly firm man when he set his foot 
 down. None of us, no man or woman, could rule him 
 after he had once fully made up his mind. I could always 
 tell when in deciding anything he had reached the ultima- 
 tum. At first he was very cheerful, then he lapsed into 
 thoughtfulness, bringing his lips together in a firm com- 
 pression. When these symptoms developed I fashioned 
 myself accordingly, and so did all others have to do sooner 
 or later. When we first went to Washington many thought 
 Mr. Lincoln was weak, but he rose grandly with the cir- 
 cumstances. I told him once of the assertion I had heard 
 coming from the friends of Seward, that the latter was 
 the power behind the throne ; that he could rule him. He 
 replied, 'I may not rule myself, but certainly Seward shall 
 not. The only ruler I have is my conscience — following 
 God in it — and these men will have to learn that yet/ 
 
 "Some of the newspaper attacks on him gave him great 
 pain. I sometimes read them to him, but he would beg 
 me to desist, saying, 'I have enough to bear now, but yet 
 I care nothing for them. If I'm right I'll live, and if 
 wrong I'll die anyhow; so let them fight at me unre- 
 strained.' My playful response would be, 'The way to 
 learn is to hear both sides/ I once assured him Chase 
 and certain others who were scheming to supplant him 
 ought to be restrained in their evil designs. 'Do good to 
 them who hate you/ was his generous answer, 'and turn 
 their ill-will into friendship/ 
 
 "I often told Mr. Lincoln that God would not let any 
 harm come of him. We had passed through four long 
 years — terrible and bloody years — unscathed, and I be- 
 lieved we would be released from all danger. He gradu- 
 ally grew into that belief himself, and the old gloomy no- 
 tion of his unavoidable taking-off was becoming dimmer 
 as time passed away. Cheerfulness merged into joyful- 
 ness. The skies cleared, the end of the war rose dimly 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 415 
 
 into view when the great blow came and shut him out f or- 
 ever." 
 
 For a glimpse of Lincoln's habits while a resident of 
 Washington and an executive officer, there is no better 
 authority than John Hay, who served as one of his secre- 
 taries. In 1866, Mr. Hay, then a member of the United 
 States Legation in Paris, wrote me an interesting account, 
 which so faithfully delineates Lincoln in his public home 
 that I cannot refrain from quoting it entire. Although the 
 letter was written in answer to a list of questions I asked, 
 and was prepared without any attempt at arrangement, still 
 it is none the less interesting. "Lincoln went to bed ordi- 
 narily," it begins, "from ten to eleven o'clock, unless he 
 happened to be kept up by important news, in which case 
 he would frequently remain at the War Department till 
 one or two. He rose early. When he lived in the coun- 
 try at the Soldiers' Home he would be up and dressed, 
 eat his breakfast (which was extremely frugal, an egg, 
 a piece of toast, coffee, etc.), and ride into Washington, 
 all before eight o'clock. In the winter, at the White House, 
 he was not quite so early. He did not sleep well, but spent 
 a good while in bed. 'Tad' usually slept with him. He 
 would lie around the office until he fell asleep, and Lincoln 
 would shoulder him and take him off to bed. He pre- 
 tended to begin business at ten o'clock in the morning, but 
 in reality the ante-rooms and halls were full long before 
 that hour — people anxious to get the first axe ground. He 
 was extremely unmethodical ; it was a four years' struggle 
 on Nicolay's part and mine to get him to adopt some sys- 
 tematic rules. He would break through every regulation 
 as fast as it was made. Anything that kept the people 
 themselves away from him he disapproved, although they 
 nearly annoyed the life out of him by unreasonable com- 
 plaints and requests. He wrote very few letters, and did 
 not read one in fifty that he received. At first we tried 
 to bring them to his notice, but at last he gave the whole 
 thing over to me, and signed, without reading them, the 
 letters I wrote in his name. He wrote perhaps half-a- 
 dozen a week himself — not more. Nicolay received mem- 
 
4l6 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 bers of Congress and other visitors who had business with 
 the Executive office, communicated to the Senate and 
 House the messages of the President, and exercised a gen- 
 eral supervision over the business. I opened and read the 
 letters, answered them, looked over the newspapers, super- 
 vised the clerks who kept the records, and in Nicolay's 
 absence did his work also. When the President had any 
 rather delicate matter to manage at a distance from Wash- 
 ington he rarely wrote, but sent Nicolay or me. The House 
 remained full of people nearly all day. At noon the Pres- 
 ident took a little lunch — a biscuit, a glass of milk in win- 
 ter, some fruit or grapes in summer. He dined between 
 five and six, and we went off to our dinner also. Before 
 dinner was over, members and Senators would come back 
 and take up the whole evening. Sometimes, though rarely, 
 he shut himself up and would see no one. Sometimes he 
 would run away to a lecture, or concert, or theatre for the 
 sake of a little rest. He was very abstemious — ate less 
 than any man I know. He drank nothing but water, not 
 from principle but because he did not like wine or spirits. 
 Once, in rather dark days early in the war, a temperance 
 committee came to him and said that the reason we did 
 not win was because our army drank so much whisky as 
 to bring the curse of the Lord upon them. He said it was 
 rather unfair on the part of the aforesaid curse, as the 
 other side drank more and worse whisky than ours did. 
 He read very little. He scarcely ever looked into a news- 
 paper unless I called his attention to an article on some 
 special subject. He frequently said, 'I know more about 
 it than any of them/ It is absurd to call him a modest 
 man. No great man was ever modest. It was his intellec- 
 tual arrogance and unconscious assumption of superiority 
 that men like Chase and Sumner never could forgive. I 
 believe that Lincoln is well understood by the people ; but 
 there is a patent-leather, kid-glove set who know no more 
 of him than an owl does of a comet blazing into his blink- 
 ing eyes. Their estimates of him are in many cases dis- 
 graceful exhibitions of ignorance and prejudice. Their 
 effeminate natures shrink instinctively from the contact 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 417 
 
 of a great reality like Lincoln's character. I consider 
 Lincoln republicanism incarnate — with all its faults and 
 all its virtues. As, in spite of some rudeness, republican- 
 ism is the sole hope of a sick world, so Lincoln, with all 
 his foibles, is the greatest character since Christ." 
 
 Bancroft's eulogy on Lincoln never pleased the latter's 
 life-long friends — those who knew him so thoroughly and 
 well. February 16, 1866, David Davis, who had heard 
 it, wrote me : "You will see Mr. Bancroft's oration before 
 this reaches you. It is able, but Mr. Lincoln is in the 
 background. His analysis of Mr. Lincoln's character is 
 superficial. It did not please me. How did it satisfy you ?" 
 On the 22d he again wrote: "Mr. Bancroft totally mis- 
 conceived Mr. Lincoln's character in applying 'unsteadi- 
 ness' and confusion to it. Mr. Lincoln grew more steady 
 and resolute, and his ideas were never confused. If there 
 were any changes in him after he got here they were for 
 the better. I thought him always master of his subject. 
 He was a much more self-possessed man than I thought. 
 He thought for himself, which is a rare quality nowadays. 
 How could Bancroft know anything about Lincoln except 
 as he judged of him as the public do? He never saw 
 him, and is himself as cold as an icicle. I should never 
 have selected an old Democratic politician, and that one 
 from Massachusetts, to deliver an eulogy on Lincoln." 6 
 
 In 1863 Mr. Lincoln was informed one morning that 
 among the visitors in the ante-room of the White House 
 was a man who claimed to be his relative. He walked 
 out and was surprised to find his boyhood friend and 
 .cousin, Dennis Hanks. The latter had come to see his 
 distinguished relative on a rather strange mission. A num- 
 ber of persons living in Coles County, in Illinois, offended 
 at the presence and conduct of a few soldiers who were at 
 home from the war on furlough at the town of Charleston, 
 had brought about a riot, in which encounter several of the 
 latter had been killed. Several of the civilian participants 
 who had acted as leaders in the strife had been arrested and 
 sent to Fort McHenry or some other place of confinement 
 
 5 Original footnote. 
 
4l8 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 equally as far from their homes. The leading lawyers 
 and politicians of central Illinois were appealed to, but they 
 and all others who had tried their hands had been signally 
 unsuccessful in their efforts to secure the release of the 
 prisoners. Meanwhile some one of a sentimental turn had 
 conceived the idea of sending garrulous old Dennis Hanks 
 to Washington, fondly believing that his relationship to the 
 President might in this last extremity be of some avail. 
 The novelty of the project secured its adoption by the pris- 
 oners' friends, and Dennis, arrayed in a suit of new clothes, 
 set out for the national capital. I have heard him describe 
 this visit very minutely. How his appearance in Wash- 
 ington and his mission struck Mr. Lincoln can only be 
 imagined. The President, after listening to him and learn- 
 ing the purpose of his visit, retired to an adjoining room 
 and returned with an extremely large roll of papers 
 labelled, "The Charleston Riot Case," which he carefully 
 untied and gravely directed his now diplomatic cousin to 
 read. Subsequently, and as if to continue the joke, he sent 
 him down to confer with the Secretary of War. He soon 
 returned from the latter's office with the report that the 
 head of the War Department could not be found ; and it was 
 well enough that he did not meet that abrupt and often- 
 times demonstrative official. In the course of time, how- 
 ever, the latter happened in at the Executive Mansion, and 
 there, in the presence of Dennis, the President sought to 
 reopen the now noted Charleston case. Adopting Mr. 
 Hanks' version, the Secretary, with his characteristic plain- 
 ness of speech, referring to the prisoners, declared that 
 
 "every d d one of them should be hung." Even the 
 
 humane and kindly inquiry of the President, "If these men 
 should return home and become good citizens, who would 
 be hurt?" failed to convince the distinguished Secretary 
 that the public good could be promoted by so doing. The 
 President not feeling willing to override the judgment of 
 his War Secretary in this instance, further consideration 
 of the case ceased, and his cousin returned to his home in 
 Illinois with his mission unaccomplished. 
 
 (The subsequent history of these riot cases I believe is 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 419 
 
 that the prisoners were returned to Illinois to be tried in 
 the State Courts there; and that by successive changes 
 of venue and continuances the cases were finally worn out.) 
 Dennis retained a rather unfavorable impression of Mr. 
 Stanton, whom he described as a "f risky little Yankee with 
 a short coat-tail. ,, "I asked Abe," he said to me once, 
 "why he didn't kick him out. I told him he was too fresh 
 altogether." Lincoln's answer was, "If I did, Dennis, 
 it would be difficult to find another man to fill his place." 
 The President's cousin 6 sat in the office during the endless 
 interviews that take place between the head of the nation and 
 the latter's loyal subjects. He saw modesty and obscurity 
 mingling with the arrogance of pride and distinction. One 
 day an attractive and handsomely dressed woman called to 
 procure the release from prison of a relative in whom she 
 professed the deepest interest. She was a good talker, and 
 her winning ways seemed to be making a deep impression 
 on the President. After listening to her story he wrote a 
 few lines on a card, enclosing it in an envelope and direct- 
 ing her to take it to the Secretary of War. Before sealing 
 it he showed it to Dennis. It read : "This woman, dear 
 Stanton, is a little smarter than she looks to be." She had, 
 woman-like, evidently overstated her case. Before night 
 another woman called, more humble in appearance, more 
 plainly clad. It was the old story. Father and son both 
 in the army, the former in prison. Could not the latter be 
 discharged from the army and sent home to help his 
 mother? A few strokes of the pen, a gentle nod of the 
 head, and the little woman, her eyes filling with tears and 
 expressing a grateful acknowledgment her tongue could 
 not utter, passed out. 
 
 6 "During this visit," said Herndon in a footnote, "Mr. Lincoln 
 presented Dennis with a silver watch, which the latter still re- 
 tains as a memento alike of the donor and his trip to Washington." 
 
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN 
 
 BEFORE PASSING TO A BRIEF AND CONDENSED VIEW OF THE 
 
 great panorama of the war it will interest the reader and 
 no doubt aid him greatly in drawing the portrait of Lincoln 
 to call up for the purpose two friends of his, whose testi- 
 mony is not only vivid and minute, but for certain reasons 
 unusually appropriate and essential. The two were de- 
 voted and trusted friends of Lincoln; and while neither 
 held office under him, both were offered and both declined 
 the same. That of itself ought not to be considered as 
 affecting or strengthening their statements, and yet we 
 sometimes think that friends who are strong enough to aid 
 us, and yet declining our aid, take care of themselves, are 
 brave enough to tell us the truth. The two friends of 
 Lincoln here referred to are Joshua F. Speed and Leonard 
 Swett. In quoting them I adhere strictly to their written 
 statements now in my possession. The former, under date 
 of December 6, 1866, says : "Mr. Lincoln was so unlike 
 all the men I had ever known before or seen or known 
 since that there is no one to whom I can compare him. In 
 all his habits of eating, sleeping, reading, conversation, 
 and study he was, if I may so express it, regularly irreg- 
 ular; that is, he had no stated time for eating, no fixed 
 time for going to bed, none for getting up. No course of 
 reading was chalked out. He read law, history, philosophy, 
 or poetry; Burns, Byron, Milton, or Shakespeare and the 
 newspapers, retaining them all about as well as an ordinary 
 man would any one of them who made only one at a time 
 his study. I once remarked to him that his mind was a 
 wonder to me ; that impressions were easily made upon it 
 and never effaced. 'No/ said he, 'you are mistaken; I 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 421 
 
 am slow to learn, and slow to forget that which I have 
 learned. My mind is like a piece of steel — very hard to 
 scratch anything on it, and almost impossible after you get 
 it there to rub it out/ I give this as his own illustration of 
 the character of his mental faculties ; it is as good as any 
 I have seen from anyone. 
 
 "The beauty of his character was its entire simplicity. 
 He had no affectation in anything. True to nature, true to 
 himself, he was true to everybody and everything around 
 him. When he was ignorant on any subject, no matter 
 how simple it might make him appear, he was always will- 
 ing to acknowledge it. His whole aim in life was to be 
 true to himself and being true to himself he could be false 
 to no one. 
 
 "He had no vices, even as a young man. Intense thought 
 with him was the rule and not, as with most of us, the 
 exception. He often said that he could think better after 
 breakfast, and better walking than sitting, lying, or stand- 
 ing. His world-wide reputation for telling anecdotes and 
 telling them so well was in my judgment necessary to his 
 very existence. Most men who have been great students, 
 such as he was, in their hours of idleness have taken to 
 the bottle, to cards or dice. He had no fondness for any 
 of these. Hence he sought relaxation in anecdotes. So 
 far as I now remember of his study for composition, it was 
 to make short sentences and a compact style. Illustrative 
 of this it might be well to state that he was a great 
 admirer of the style of John C. Calhoun. I remember 
 reading to him one of Mr. Calhoun's speeches in reply 
 to Mr. Clay in the Senate, in which Mr. Clay had quoted 
 precedent. Mr. Calhoun replied (I quote from memory) 
 that 'to legislate upon precedent is but to make the error 
 of yesterday the law of today.' Lincoln thought that was 
 a great truth and grandly uttered. 
 
 "Unlike all other men, there was entire harmony be- 
 tween his public and private life. He must believe he was 
 right, and that he had truth and justice with him, or he 
 was a weak man; but no man could be stronger if he 
 thought he was right. 
 
422 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 "His familiar conversations were like his speeches and 
 letters in this: that while no set speech of his (save the 
 Gettysburg address) will be considered as entirely artistic 
 and complete, yet, when the gems of American literature 
 come to be selected, as many will be culled from Lincoln's 
 speeches as from any American orator. So of his conver- 
 sation, and so of his private correspondence; all abound 
 in gems. 
 
 "My own connection or relation with Mr. Lincoln dur- 
 ing the war has so often been commented on, and its ex- 
 tent so often enlarged upon, I feel impelled to state that 
 during his whole administration he never requested me to 
 do anything, except in my own State, and never much in 
 that except to advise him as to what measures and policy 
 would be most conducive to the growth of a healthy Union 
 sentiment. 
 
 "My own opinion of the history of the Emancipation 
 Proclamation is that Mr. Lincoln foresaw the necessity for 
 it long before he issued it. He was anxious to avoid it, and 
 came to it only when he saw that the measure would sub- 
 tract from its labor, and add to our army quite a number 
 of good fighting men. I have heard of the charge of du- 
 plicity against him by certain Western members of Con- 
 gress. I never believed the charge, because he has told 
 me from his own lips that the charge was false. I, who 
 knew him so well, could never after that credit the report. 
 At first I was opposed to the Proclamation, and so told him. 
 I remember well our conversation on the subject. He 
 seemed to treat it as certain that I would recognize the 
 wisdom of the act when I should see the harvest of good 
 which we would ere long glean from it. In that con- 
 versation he alluded to an incident in his life, long passed, 
 when he was so much depressed that he almost contem- 
 plated suicide. At the time of his deep depression he said 
 to me that he had 'done nothing to make any human being 
 remember that he had lived/ and that to connect his name 
 with the events transpiring in his day and generation, and 
 so impress himself upon them as to link his name with 
 something that would redound to the interest of his fellow 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 423 
 
 man, was what he desired to live for. He reminded me of 
 that conversation, and said with earnest emphasis, 'I believe 
 that in this measure [meaning his Proclamation] my fond- 
 est hope will be realized/ Over twenty years had passed 
 between the two conversations. 
 
 "The last interview but one I had with him was about 
 ten days prior to his last inauguration. Congress was 
 drawing to a close ; it had been an important session ; much 
 attention had to be given to the important bills he was 
 signing ; a great war was upon him and the country ; visi- 
 tors were coming and going to the President with their 
 varying complaints and grievances from morning till night 
 with almost as much regularity as the ebb and flow of the 
 tide; and he was worn down in health and spirits. On 
 this occasion I was sent for, to come and see him. In- 
 structions were given that when I came I should be ad- 
 mitted. When I entered his office it was quite full, and 
 many more — among them not a few Senators and members 
 of Congress — still waiting. As soon as I was fairly inside, 
 the President remarked that he desired to see me as soon 
 as he was through giving audiences, and that if I had 
 nothing to do I could take the papers and amuse myself 
 in that or any other way I saw fit till he was ready. In the 
 room, when I entered, I observed sitting near the fireplace, 
 dressed in humble attire, two ladies modestly waiting their 
 turn. One after another of the visitors came and went, 
 each bent on his own particular errand, some satisfied and 
 others evidently displeased at the result of their mission. 
 The hour had arrived to close the door against all further 
 callers. No one was left in the room now except the Presi- 
 dent, the two ladies, and me. With a rather peevish and 
 fretful air he turned to them and said, 'Well, ladies, what 
 can I do for you ? They both commenced to speak at once. 
 From what they said he soon learned that one was the wife 
 and the other the mother of two men imprisoned for re- 
 sisting the draft in western Pennsylvania. 'Stop/ said he, 
 'don't say any more. Give me your petition/ The old lady 
 responded, 'Mr. Lincoln, we've got no petition; we 
 couldn't write one and had no money to pay for writing 
 
424 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 one, and I thought best to come and see you/ 'Oh/ said 
 he, T understand your cases/ He rang his bell and ordered 
 one of the messengers to tell General Dana to bring him 
 the names of all the men in prison for resisting the draft 
 in western Pennsylvania. The General soon came with 
 the list. He inquired if there was any difference in the 
 charges or degrees of guilt. The General replied that he 
 knew of none. 'Well, then/ said he, 'these fellows have 
 suffered long enough, and I have thought so for some 
 time, and now that my mind is on the subject I believe I 
 will turn out the whole flock. So, draw up the order, Gen- 
 eral, and I will sign it/ It was done and the General left 
 the room. Turning to the women he said, 'Now, ladies, 
 you can go/ The younger of the two ran forward and was 
 in the act of kneeling in thankfulness. 'Get up/ he said ; 
 'don't kneel to me, but thank God and go/ The old lady 
 now came forward with tears in her eyes to express her 
 gratitude. 'Good-bye, Mr. Lincoln/ said she; T shall 
 probably never see you again till we meet in heaven/ These 
 were her exact words. She had the President's hand in 
 hers, and he was deeply moved. He instantly took her 
 right hand in both of his and, following her to the door, 
 said, 'I am afraid with all my troubles I shall never get to 
 the resting-place you speak of ; but if I do I am sure I shall 
 find you. That you wish me to get there is, I believe, the 
 best wish you could make for me. Good-bye/ 
 
 "We were now alone. I said to him, 'Lincoln, with my 
 knowledge of your nervous sensibility, it is a wonder that 
 such scenes as this don't kill you/ He thought for a mo- 
 ment and then answered in a languid voice, 'Yes, you are 
 to a certain degree right. I ought not to undergo what I 
 so often do. I am very unwell now ; my feet and hands of 
 late seem to be always cold, and I ought perhaps to be 
 in bed; but things of the sort you have just seen don't 
 hurt me, for, to tell you the truth, that scene is the only 
 thing today that has made me forget my condition or given 
 me any pleasure. I have, in that order, made two people 
 happy and alleviated the distress of many a poor soul whom 
 I never expect to see. That old lady/ he continued, 'was 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 425 
 
 no counterfeit. The mother spoke out in all the features 
 of her face. It is more than one can often say that in doing 
 right one has made two people happy in one day. Speed, 
 die when I may, I want it said of me by those who know 
 me best, that I always plucked a thistle and planted a 
 flower when I thought a flower would grow.' What a 
 fitting sentiment ! What a glorious recollection !" 
 
 The recollections of Lincoln by Mr. Swett are in the 
 form of a letter dated January 17, 1866. There is so much 
 of what I know to be true in it, and it is so graphically 
 told, that although there may be some repetition of what 
 has already been touched upon in the preceding chapters, 
 still I believe that the portrait of Lincoln will be made all 
 the more lifelike by inserting the letter without abridgment. 
 
 "Chicago, III., Jan. 17, 1866. 
 "Wm. H. Herndon, Esq. 
 "Springfield, 111. 
 
 "Dear Sir : I received your letter today, asking me to 
 write you Friday. Fearing if I delay, you will not get it in 
 time, I will give you such hasty thoughts as may occur to me 
 tonight. I have mislaid your second lecture, so that I have 
 not read it at all, and have not read your first one since about 
 the time it was published. What I shall say, therefore, will be 
 based upon my own ideas rather than a review of the lecture. 
 
 "Lincoln's whole life was a calculation of the law of forces 
 and ultimate results. The whole world to him was a question 
 of cause and effect. He believed the results to which certain 
 causes tended; he did not believe that those results could be 
 materially hastened or impeded. His whole political history, 
 especially since the agitation of the slavery question, has been 
 based upon this theory. He believed from the first, I think, 
 that the agitation of slavery would produce its overthrow, and 
 he acted upon the result as though it was present from the be- 
 ginning. His tactics were to get himself in the right place 
 and remain there still, until events would find him in that 
 place. This course of action led him to say and do things 
 which could not be understood when considered in reference 
 to the immediate surroundings in which they were done or 
 said. You will remember, in his campaign against Douglas 
 in 1858, the first ten lines of the first speech he made defeated 
 
426 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 him. The sentiment of the 'house divided against itself seemed 
 wholly inappropriate. It was a speech made at the com- 
 mencement of a campaign, and apparently made for the cam- 
 paign. Viewing it in this light alone, nothing could have 
 been more unfortunate or inappropriate. It was saying just 
 the wrong thing; yet he saw it was an abstract truth, and 
 standing by the speech would ultimately find him in the right 
 place. I was inclined at the time to believe these words were 
 hastily and inconsiderately uttered, but subsequent facts have 
 convinced me they were deliberate and had been matured. 
 Judge T. L. Dickey says, that at Bloomington, at the first 
 Republican Convention in 1856, he uttered the same sentences 
 in a speech delivered there, and that after the meeting was 
 over, he (Dickey) called his attention to these remarks. 
 
 "Lincoln justified himself in making them by stating they 
 were true ; but finally, at Dickey's urgent request, he promised 
 that for his sake, or upon his advice, he would not repeat 
 them. In the summer of 1859, when he was dining with a 
 party of his intimate friends at Bloomington, the subject of his 
 Springfield speech was discussed. We all insisted it was a 
 great mistake, but he justified himself, and finally said, 'Well, 
 gentlemen, you may think that speech was a mistake, but I 
 never have believed it was, and you will see the day when you 
 will consider it was the wisest thing I ever said/ 
 
 "He never believed in political combinations, and conse- 
 quently, whether an individual man or class of men supported 
 or opposed him, never made any difference in his feelings, or 
 his opinions of his own success. If he was elected, he seemed 
 to believe that no person or class of persons could ever have 
 defeated him, and if defeated, he believed nothing could ever 
 have elected him. Hence, when he was a candidate, he 
 never wanted anything done for him in the line of political 
 combination or management. He seemed to want to let the 
 whole subject alone, and for everybody else to do the same. 
 I remember, after the Chicago Convention, when a great 
 portion of the East were known to be dissatisfied at his nomi- 
 nation, when fierce conflicts were going on in New York and 
 Pennsylvania, and when great exertions seemed requisite to 
 harmonize and mould in concert the action of our friends, 
 Lincoln always seemed to oppose all efforts made in the di- 
 rection of uniting the party. I arranged with Mr. Thurlow 
 Weed after the Chicago Convention to meet him at Spring- 
 field. I was present at the interview, but Lincoln said nothing. 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 427 
 
 It was proposed that Judge Davis should go to New York 
 and Pennsylvania to survey the field and see what was neces- 
 sary to be done. Lincoln consented, but it was always my 
 opinion that he consented reluctantly. 
 
 "He saw that the pressure of a campaign was the external 
 force coercing the party into unity. If it failed to produce 
 that result, he believed any individual effort would also fail. 
 If the desired result followed, he considered it attributable to 
 the great cause, and not aided by the lesser ones. He sat 
 down in his chair in Springfield and made himself the Mecca 
 to which all politicians made pilgrimages. He told them all a 
 story, said nothing, and sent them away. All his efforts to 
 procure a second nomination were in the same direction. I 
 believe he earnestly desired that nomination. He was much 
 more eager for it than he was for the first, and yet from the 
 beginning he discouraged all efforts on the part of his friends 
 to obtain it. From the middle of his first term all his ad- 
 versaries were busily at work for themselves. Chase had 
 three or four secret societies and an immense patronage ex- 
 tending all over the country. Fremont was constantly at 
 work, yet Lincoln would never do anything either to hinder 
 them or to help himself. 
 
 "He was considered too conservative, and his adversaries 
 were trying to outstrip him in satisfying the radical element. 
 I had a conversation with him upon this subject in October, 
 1863, and tried to induce him to recommend in his annual 
 message a constitutional amendment abolishing slavery. I 
 told him I was not very radical, but I believed the result of the 
 war would be the extermination of slavery; that Congress 
 would pass the amendment making the slave free, and that it 
 was proper at that time to be done. I told him also, if he took 
 that stand, it was an outside position, and no one could main- 
 tain himself upon any measure more radical, and if he failed 
 to take the position, his rivals would. Turning to me suddenly 
 he said, 'Is not the question of emancipation doing well enough 
 now?' I replied it was. 'Well/ said he, 'I have never done 
 an official act with a view to promote my own personal ag- 
 grandizement, and I don't like to begin now. I can see that 
 emancipation is coming; whoever can wait for it will see it; 
 whoever stands in its way will be run over by it/ 
 
 "His rivals were using money profusely; journals and in- 
 fluences were being subsidized against him. I accidentally 
 learned that a Washington newspaper, through a purchase of 
 
428 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 the establishment, was to be turned against him, and consulted 
 him about taking steps to prevent it. The only thing I 
 could get him to say was that he would regret to see the 
 paper turned against him. Whatever was done had to be 
 done without his knowledge. Mr. Bennett of the Herald, 
 with his paper, you know, is a power. The old gentleman 
 wanted to be noticed by Lincoln, and he wanted to support 
 him. A friend of his, who was certainly in his secrets, came 
 to Washington and intimated if Lincoln would invite Bennett 
 to come over and chat with him, his paper would be all right. 
 Mr. Bennett wanted nothing, he simply wanted to be noticed. 
 Lincoln in talking about it said, T understand it; Bennett has 
 made a great deal of money, some say not very properly, now 
 he wants me to make him respectable. I have never invited 
 Mr. Bryant or Mr. Greeley here; I shall not, therefore, 
 especially invite Mr. Bennett.' All Lincoln would say was, 
 that he was receiving everybody, and he should receive Mr. 
 Bennett if he came. 
 
 "Notwithstanding his entire inaction, he never for a mo- 
 ment doubted his second nomination. One time in his room 
 discussing with him who his real friends were, he told me, if 
 I would not show it, he would make a list of how the Senate 
 stood. When he got through, I pointed out some five or six, 
 and I told him I knew he was mistaken about them. Said he, 
 'You may think so, but you keep that until the convention and 
 tell me then whether I was right/ He was right to a man. 
 He kept a kind of account book of how things were progress- 
 ing, for three or four months, and whenever I would get 
 nervous and think things were going wrong, he would get 
 out his estimates and show how everything on the great scale 
 of action, such as the resolutions of legislatures, the instruc- 
 tions of delegates, and things of that character, were going 
 exactly as he expected. These facts, with many others of a 
 kindred nature, have convinced me that he managed his politics 
 upon a plan entirely different from any other man the country 
 has ever produced. 
 
 "He managed his campaigns by ignoring men and by ignor- 
 ing all small causes, but by closely calculating the tendencies 
 of events and the great forces which were producing logical 
 results. 
 
 "In his conduct of the war he acted upon the theory that 
 but one thing was necessary, and that was a united North. 
 He had all shades of sentiments and opinions to deal with, and 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 429 
 
 the consideration was always presented to his mind, how can 
 I hold these discordant elements together? 
 
 "It was here that he located his own greatness as a Presi- 
 dent. One time, about the middle of the war, I left his house 
 about eleven o'clock at night, at the Soldier's Home. We had 
 been discussing the discords in the country, and particularly 
 the States of Missouri and Kentucky. As we separated at 
 the door he said, 'I may not have made as great a President 
 as some other men, but I believe I have kept these discordant 
 elements together as well as anyone could/ Hence, in dealing 
 with men he was a trimmer, and such a trimmer the world 
 has never seen. Halifax, who was great in his day as a trim- 
 mer, would blush by the side of Lincoln; yet Lincoln never 
 trimmed in principles, it was only in his conduct with men. 
 He used the patronage of his office to feed the hunger of these 
 various factions. Weed always declared that he kept a regular 
 account-book of his appointments in New York, dividing his 
 various favors so as to give each faction more than it could 
 get from any other source, yet never enough to satisfy its 
 appetite. 
 
 'They all had access to him, they all received favors from 
 him, and they all complained of ill treatment; but while un- 
 satisfied, they all had 'large expectations/ and saw in him the 
 chance of obtaining more than from anyone else whom they 
 could be sure of getting in his place. He used every force to 
 the best possible advantage. He never wasted anything, and 
 would always give more to his enemies than he would to his 
 friends ; and the reason was, because he never had anything 
 to spare, and in the close calculation of attaching the factions 
 to him, he counted upon the abstract affection of his friends 
 as an element to be offset against some gift with which he 
 must appease his enemies. Hence, there was always some 
 truth in the charge of his friends that he failed to reciprocate 
 their devotion with his favors. The reason was, that he had 
 only just so much to give away — 'He always had more horses 
 than oats.' 
 
 "An adhesion of all forces was indispensable to his success 
 and the success of the country ; hence he husbanded his means 
 with the greatest nicety of calculation. Adhesion was what 
 he wanted; if he got it gratuitously he never wasted his sub- 
 stance paying for it. 
 
 "His love of the ludicrous was not the least peculiar of 
 his characteristics. His love of fun made him overlook every- 
 
430 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 thing else but the point of the joke sought after. If he told a 
 good story that was refined and had a sharp point, he did not 
 like it any the better because it was refined. If it was out- 
 rageously vulgar, he never seemed to see that part of it, if it 
 had the sharp ring of wit ; nothing ever reached him but the 
 wit. Almost any man that will tell a very vulgar story, has, 
 in a degree, a vulgar mind; but it was not so with him; with 
 all his purity of character and exalted morality and sensi- 
 bility, which no man can doubt, when hunting for wit he 
 had no abilty to discriminate between the vulgar and the re- 
 fined substances from which he extracted it. It was the wit 
 he was after, the pure jewel, and he would pick it up out of 
 the mud or dirt just as readily as he would from a parlor 
 table. 
 
 "He had great kindness of heart. His mind was full of 
 tender sensibilities, and he was extremely humane, yet while 
 these attributes were fully developed in his character, and, 
 unless intercepted by his judgment, controlled him, they never 
 did control him contrary to his judgment. He would strain 
 a point to be kind, but he never strained it to breaking. Most 
 men of much kindly feeling are controlled by this sentiment 
 against their judgment, or rather that sentiment beclouds their 
 judgment. It was never so with him; he would be just as 
 kind and generous as his judgment would let him be — no 
 more. If he ever deviated from this rule, it was to save life. 
 He would sometimes, I think, do things he knew to be im- 
 politic and wrong to save some poor fellow's neck. I remem- 
 ber one day being in his room when he was sitting at his 
 table with a large pile of papers before him, and after a 
 pleasant talk he turned quite abruptly and said, 'Get out of 
 the way, Swett; to-morrow is butcher-day, and I must go 
 through these papers and see if I cannot find some excuse to 
 let these poor fellows off/ The pile of papers he had were 
 the records of courts martial of men who on the following day 
 were to be shot. He was not examining the records to see 
 whether the evidence sustained the findings ; he was purposely 
 in search of occasions to evade the law, in favor of life. 
 
 "Some of Lincoln's friends have insisted that he lacked 
 the strong attributes of personal affection which he ought to 
 have exhibited; but I think this is a mistake. Lincoln had 
 too much justice to run a great government for a few favors ; 
 and the complaints against him in this regard, when properly 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 43 1 
 
 digested, seem to amount to this and no more, that he would 
 not abuse the privileges of his situation. 
 
 "He was certainly a very poor hater. He never judged 
 men by his like or dislike for them. If any given act was to 
 be performed, he could understand that his enemy could do 
 it as well as anyone. If a man had maligned him or been 
 guilty of personal ill-treatment, and was the fittest man for the 
 place, he would give him that place just as soon as he would 
 give it to a friend. 
 
 "I do not think he ever removed a man because he was his 
 enemy or because he disliked him. 
 
 "The great secret of his power as an orator, in my judg- 
 ment, lay in the clearness and perspicuity of his statements. 
 When Mr. Lincoln had stated a case it was always more than 
 half argued and the point more than half won. It is said that 
 some one of the crowned heads of Europe proposed to marry 
 when he had a wife living. A gentleman, hearing of this 
 proposition, replied, how could he? 'Oh/ replied his friend, 
 'he could marry and then he could get Mr. Gladstone to make 
 an explanation about it/ This was said to illustrate the con- 
 vincing power of Mr. Gladstone's statement. 
 
 "Mr. Lincoln had this power greater than any man I have 
 ever known. The first impression he generally conveyed was, 
 that he had stated the case of his adversary better and more 
 forcibly than his opponent could state it himself. He then 
 answered that statement of facts fairly and fully, never pass- 
 ing by or skipping over a bad point. 
 
 "When this was done he presented his own case. There 
 was a feeling, when he argued a case, in the mind of any man 
 who listened to it, that nothing had been passed over; yet if 
 he could not answer the objections he argued, in his own mind, 
 and himself arrive at the conclusion to which he was leading 
 others, he had very little power of argumentation. The force 
 of his logic was in conveying to the minds of others the same 
 clear and thorough analysis he had in his own, and if his own 
 mind failed to be satisfied, he had little power to satisfy any- 
 body else. He never made a sophistical argument in his life, 
 and never could make one. I think he was of less real aid in 
 trying a thoroughly bad case than any man I was ever as- 
 sociated with. If he could not grasp the whole case and be- 
 lieve in it, he was never inclined to touch it. 
 
 "From the commencement of his life to its close, I have 
 
432 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 sometimes doubted whether he ever asked anybody's advice 
 about anything. He would listen to everybody; he would 
 hear everybody; but he rarely, if ever, asked for opinions. I 
 never knew him in trying a case to ask the advice of any 
 lawyer he was associated with. 
 
 "As a politician and as President, he arrived at all his con- 
 clusions from his own reflections, and when his opinion was 
 once formed, he never doubted but what it was right. 
 
 "One great public mistake of his character, as generally re- 
 ceived and acquiesced in, is that he is considered by the people 
 of this country as a frank, guileless, and unsophisticated man. 
 There never was a greater mistake. Beneath a smooth sur- 
 face of candor and apparent declaration of all his thoughts and 
 feelings, he exercised the most exalted tact and the wisest 
 discrimination. He handled and moved men remotely as we 
 do pieces upon a chess-board. He retained through life all 
 the friends he ever had, and he made the wrath of his enemies 
 to praise him. This was not by cunning or intrigue, in the 
 low acceptation of the term, but by far-seeing reason and dis- 
 cernment. He always told enough only of his plans and pur- 
 poses to induce the belief that he had communicated all, yet 
 he reserved enough to have communicated nothing. He told 
 all that was unimportant with a gushing frankness, yet no 
 man ever kept his real purposes closer, or penetrated the future 
 further with his deep designs. 
 
 "You ask me whether he changed his religious opinions 
 towards the close of his life. I think not. As he became in- 
 volved in matters of the greatest importance, full of great re- 
 sponsibility and great doubt, a feeling of religious reverence, 
 a belief in God and his justice and overruling power increased 
 with him. He was always full of natural religion ; he believed 
 in God as much as the most approved Church member, yet he 
 judged of Him by the same system of generalization as he 
 judged everything else. He had very little faith in ceremonials 
 or forms. In fact he cared nothing for the form of any- 
 thing. But his heart was full of natural and cultivated re- 
 ligion. He believed in the great laws of truth, and the rigid 
 discharge of duty, his accountability to God, the ultimate 
 trumph of the right and the overthrow of wrong. If his re- 
 ligion were to be judged by the lines and rules of Church 
 creeds he would fall far short of the standard; but if by the 
 higher rule of purity of conduct, of honesty of motive, of un- 
 yielding fidelity to the right, and acknowledging God as the 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 433 
 
 supreme ruler, then he filled all the requirements of true de- 
 votion, and his whole life was a life of love to God, and love 
 of his neighbor as of himself. 
 
 "Yours truly, 
 
 "Leonard Swett. 1 " 
 
CHAPTER NINETEEN 
 
 THE OUTLINES OF MR. LINCOLN^ PRESIDENTIAL CAREER 
 
 are alone sufficient to fill a volume, and his history after 
 he had been sworn into office by Chief Justice Taney is 
 so much a history of the entire country, and has been so 
 admirably and thoroughly told by others, that I apprehend 
 I can omit many of the details and still not impair the por- 
 trait I have been endeavoring to draw in the mind of the 
 reader. The rapid shifting of scenes in the drama of se- 
 cession, the disclosure of rebellious plots and conspiracies, 
 the threats of Southern orators and newspapers, all cul- 
 minating in the attack on Fort Sumter, brought the newly 
 installed President face to face with the stern and grave 
 realities of a civil war. 1 Mr. Lincoln's military knowledge 
 had been acquired in the famous campaign against the In- 
 
 1 In a letter to Herndon dated November 13, 1866, and published 
 originally as a footnote, Henry C. Whitney wrote as follows : 
 "Lincoln then told me of his last interview with Douglas. 'One 
 day Douglas came rushing in/ he related, 'and said he had just 
 got a telegraph dispatch from some friends in Illinois urging 
 him to come right out and help set things right in Egypt, and 
 that he would go, or stay in Washington, just where I thought 
 he could do the most good. I told him to do as he chose, but 
 that he could probably do best in Illinois. Upon that he shook 
 hands with me and hurried away to catch the next train. I never 
 saw him again'." 
 
 Whitney's statement does not appear to advantage in com- 
 parison with the following from Nicolay and Hay: "Having, 
 through a friend, signified his desire for an interview, Douglas 
 went to the Executive Mansion between seven and eight o'clock 
 on this Sunday evening, April 14, and being privately received 
 by the President, these two remarkable men sat in confidential 
 interview, without a witness, nearly two hours." Abraham Lin- 
 coln: A History, IV., p. 80. 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 435 
 
 dian Chief Black Hawk on the frontier in 1832, the thrill- 
 ing details of which he had already given the country in a 
 Congressional stump-speech; and to this store of expe- 
 rience he had made little if any addition. It was therefore 
 generally conceded that in grappling with the realities of 
 the problem which now confronted both himself and the 
 country he would be wholly dependent on those who had 
 made the profession of arms a life-work. Those who held 
 such hastily conceived notions of Mr. Lincoln were evi- 
 dently misled by his well-known and freely advertised 
 democratic manners. Anybody had a right, it was sup- 
 posed, to advise him of his duty ; and he was so conscious 
 of his shortcomings as a military President that the army 
 officers and Cabinet would run the Government and con- 
 duct the war. That was the popular idea. Little did the 
 press, or people, or politicians then know that the country 
 lawyer who occupied the executive chair was the most self- 
 reliant man who ever sat in it, and that when the crisis 
 came his rivals in the Cabinet, and the people everywhere, 
 would learn that he and he alone would be master of the 
 situation. 
 
 It is doubtless true that for a long time after his entry 
 into office he did not assert himself ; that is, not realizing 
 the gigantic scale upon which the war was destined to be 
 fought, he may have permitted the idea to go forth that 
 being unused to the command of armies he would place 
 himself entirely in the hands of those who were. 2 The 
 Secretary of State, whose ten years in the Senate had ac- 
 quainted him with our relations to foreign powers, may 
 have been lulled into the innocent belief that the Execu- 
 tive would have no fixed or definite views on international 
 questions. So also of the other Cabinet officers ; but alas 
 
 2 On June 13, 1866, Henry C. Whitney wrote Herndon: "I 
 was in Washington in the Indian service for a few days before 
 August, 1861, and I merely said to Lincoln one day, 'Everything 
 is drifting into the war, and I guess you will have to put me 
 in the army.' He looked up from his work and said, good- 
 humoredly, Tm making generals now. In a few days I will 
 be making quartermasters, and then I'll fix you'." Whitney 
 was later commissioned paymaster of volunteers. 
 
436 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 for their fancied security! It was the old story of the 
 sleeping lion. Old politicians, eyeing him with some dis- 
 trust and want of confidence, prepared themselves to con- 
 trol his administration, not only as a matter of right, but 
 believing that he would be compelled to rely upon them 
 for support. A brief experience taught them he was not 
 the man they bargained for. 
 
 [Herndon was not aware how quickly Lincoln asserted 
 his intention to be the real ruler of the country. On April 
 1, 1861, Seward presented him with a remarkable docu- 
 ment entitled, "Some Thoughts for the President's Con- 
 sideration. " Premising his suggestions with the statement 
 that "we are at the end of a month's administration, and 
 yet without a policy, either domestic or foreign/' and that 
 "further delay to adopt and prosecute our policies for both 
 domestic and foreign affairs would not only bring scandal 
 on the Administration, but danger upon the country," he 
 urged that the question before the country be shifted from 
 slavery to union or disunion. To effect this he proposed 
 the evacuation of Fort Sumter, advocating at the same 
 time the retention of all other forts and possessions in the 
 South. 
 
 The kernel of Seward's "Thoughts/' however, was a 
 predatory foreign policy. Believing foreign war a certain 
 cure for internal dissention, he proposed that explanations 
 be categorically demanded of Spain and France, and 
 that Congress be convened and war declared if satisfactory 
 replies were not received. He also proposed that explana- 
 tions be sought from Great Britain and Russia, and that 
 agents be sent to Canada, Mexico and Central America 
 to arouse what he described as a vigorous continental 
 spirit of independence. In conclusion, he asserted that 
 when a line of policy should be adopted, either the Presi- 
 dent must pursue it incessantly or devolve it upon some 
 member of his cabinet. "It is not my especial province;" 
 he wrote, "but I neither seek to evade nor assume respon- 
 sibility." 
 
 Lincoln's reply, combining his keenness of analysis and 
 lack of rancor with a prophecy of the mastery he was later 
 to assert over his cabinet, deserves quotation in full. 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 437 
 
 "Executive Mansion, April 1, 1861. 
 "Hon. W. H. Seward. 
 
 "My Dear Sir : Since parting with you I have been con- 
 sidering your paper dated this day, and entitled 'Some 
 thoughts for the President's consideration/ The first proposi- 
 tion in it is, 'First, We are at the end of a month's administra- 
 tion, and yet without a policy, either domestic or foreign/ 
 
 "At the beginning of that month, in the inaugural, I said, 
 The power confided to me will be used to hold, occupy, and 
 possess the property and places belonging to the Govern- 
 ment, and to collect the duties and imposts/ This had your 
 distinct approval at the time; and, taken in connection with 
 the order I immediately gave General Scott, directing him to 
 employ every means in his power to strengthen and hold the 
 forts, comprises the exact domestic policy you now urge, 
 with the single exception that it does not propose to abandon 
 Fort Sumter. 
 
 "Again, I do not perceive how the reenforcement of Fort 
 Sumter would be done on a slavery or party issue, while that 
 of Fort Pickens would be on a more national and patriotic one. 
 
 "The news received yesterday in regard to St. Domingo 
 certainly brings a new item within the range of our foreign 
 policy; but up to that time we have been preparing circulars 
 and instructions to ministers and the like, all in perfect 
 harmony, without even a suggestion that we had no foreign 
 policy. 
 
 "Upon your closing propositions, that 'whatever policy we 
 adopt, there must be an energetic prosecution of it, 
 
 " 'For this purpose it must be somebody's business to pursue 
 and direct it incessantly, 
 
 " 'Either the President must do it himself, and be all the 
 while active in it, or 
 
 " 'Devolve it on some member of his Cabinet. Once 
 adopted, debates on it must end, and all agree and abide/ I 
 remark that if this must be done, I must do it. When a 
 general line of policy is adopted, I apprehend there is no 
 danger of its being changed without good reason or continuing 
 to be a subject of unnecessary debate; still, upon points aris- 
 ing in its progress I wish, and suppose I am entitled to have, 
 the advice of all the Cabinet. 
 
 "Your ob't serv't, 
 
 "A. Lincoln/'] 
 
438 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 Next in importance to the attack on Fort Sumter, from 
 a military standpoint, was the battle of Bull Run. How 
 the President viewed it is best illustrated by an incident 
 furnished by an old friend, Robert L. Wilson, who was 
 an associate of his in the Legislature of Illinois, and who 
 was in Washington when the engagement took place. "The 
 night after the battle," he relates, "accompanied by two 
 Wisconsin Congressmen, I called at the White House to 
 get the news from Manassas, as it was then called, having 
 failed in obtaining any information at Seward's office and 
 elsewhere. Stragglers were coming with all sorts of wild 
 rumors, but nothing more definite than that there had been 
 a great engagement ; and the bearer of each report had 
 barely escaped with his life. Messengers bearing des- 
 patches to the President and Secretary of War were con- 
 stantly arriving, but ousiders could gather nothing worthy 
 of belief. Having learned that Mr. Lincoln was at the 
 War Department we started thither, but found the build- 
 ing surrounded by a great crowd, all as much in the dark 
 as we. Removing a short distance away we sat down to 
 rest. Presently Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Nicolay, his pri- 
 vate secretary, came along, headed for the White House. 
 It was proposed by my companions that as I was ac- 
 quainted with the President I should join him and ask 
 for the news. I did so, but he said that he had already 
 told more than under the rules of the War Department he 
 had any right to, and that, although he could see no harm 
 in it, the Secretary of War had forbidden his imparting 
 information to persons not in the military service. 'These 
 war fellows/ he said, complainingly, 'are very strict with 
 me, and I regret that I am prevented from telling you 
 anything ; but I must obey them, I suppose, until I get the 
 hang of things.' 'But, Mr. President/ I insisted, 'if you 
 cannot tell me the news, you can at least indicate its na- 
 ture, that is, whether good or bad/ The suggestion struck 
 him favorably. Grasping my arm he leaned over, and plac- 
 ing his face near my ear, said, in a shrill but subdued 
 
 voice, 'It's d d bad/ It was the first time I had ever 
 
 heard him use profane language, if indeed it was profane 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 439 
 
 in that connection; but later, when the painful details of 
 the fight came in, I realized that, taking into consideration 
 the time and the circumstances, no other term would have 
 contained a truer qualification of the word 'bad'." 
 
 "About one week after the battle of Bull Run/' relates 
 another old friend — Whitney — from Illinois, "I made a 
 call on Mr. Lincoln, having no business except to give him 
 some presents which the nuns at the Osage Mission school 
 in Kansas had sent to him through me. A Cabinet meet- 
 ing had just adjourned, and I was directed to go at once 
 to his room. He was keeping at bay a throng of callers, 
 but, noticing me enter, arose and greeted me with his 
 old-time cordiality. After the room had been partially 
 cleared of visitors Secretary Seward came in and called 
 up a case which related to the territory of New Mexico. 
 'Oh, I see,' said Lincoln ; 'they have neither Governor nor 
 Government. Well, you see Jim Lane ; the secretary is 
 his man, and he must hunt him up/ Seward then left, 
 under the impression, as I then thought, that Lincoln 
 wanted to get rid of him and diplomacy at the same time. 
 Several other persons were announced, but Lincoln noti- 
 fied them all that he was busy and could not see them. He 
 was playful and sportive as a child, told me all sorts of 
 anecdotes, dealing largely in stories about Charles James 
 Fox, and inquired after several odd characters whom we 
 both knew in Illinois. While thus engaged General James 
 was announced. This officer had sent in word that he 
 would leave town that evening, and must confer with the 
 President before going. 'Well, as he is one of the fellows 
 who make cannons/ observed Lincoln, T suppose I must 
 see him. Tell him when I get through with Whitney I'll 
 see him/ No more cards came up, and James left about 
 five o'clock, declaring that the President was closeted 
 with 'an old Hoosier from Illinois, and was telling dirty 
 yarns while the country was quietly going to hell/ But, 
 however indignant General James may have felt, and 
 whatever the people may have thought, still the President 
 was full of the war. He got down his maps of the seat 
 of war," continues Whitney, "and gave me a full history 
 
44° LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 of the preliminary discussions and steps leading to the 
 battle of Bull Run. He was opposed to the battle, and 
 explained to General Scott by those very maps how the 
 enemy could by the aid of the railroad reinforce their 
 army at Manassas Gap until they had brought every man 
 there, keeping us meanwhile successfully at bay. 'I showed 
 to General Scott our paucity of railroad advantages at that 
 point/ said Lincoln, 'and their plenitude, but Scott was 
 obdurate and would not listen to the possibility of defeat. 
 Now you see I was right, and Scott knows it, I reckon. 
 My plan was, and still is, to make a strong feint against 
 Richmond and distract their forces before attacking 
 Manassas. That problem General McClellan is now try- 
 ing to work out.' Mr. Lincoln then told me of the plan 
 he had recommended to McClellan, which was to send 
 gunboats up one of the rivers — not the James — in the 
 direction of Richmond, and divert the enemy there while 
 the main attack was made at Manassas. I took occasion 
 to say that McClellan was ambitious to be his successor. 
 'I am perfectly willing/ he answered, 'if he will only put 
 an end to this war'." 3 
 
 The interview of Mr. Whitney with the President on 
 this occasion is especially noteworthy because the latter 
 unfolded to him his idea of the general plan formed in 
 his mind to suppress the rebellion movement and defeat 
 the Southern army. "The President/' continues Mr. Whit- 
 ney, "now explained to me his theory of the Rebellion by 
 the aid of the maps before him. Running his long fore- 
 finger down the map he stopped at Virginia. 'We must 
 
 3 In a footnote to this paragraph Herndon stated that this 
 interview was written out during the war, and that it contained 
 many of Lincoln's peculiarities of expression. If that is the 
 case, Whitney — at least in this instance — was not a reliable re- 
 porter. Scott was opposed to the advance which culminated in 
 defeat at Bull Run, and if Lincoln did not actively favor it, he 
 made no objection when the cabinet decided it was politically 
 expedient. Moreover, in subsequent correspondence relating to 
 McClellan's Peninsular campaign he laid no emphasis upon a 
 naval feint against Richmond. Whitney's reference to McClellan's 
 political ambitions is clearly an after-thought. 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 441 
 
 drive them away from here (Manassas Gap)/ he said, 
 'and clear them out of this part of the State so that they 
 cannot threaten us here (Washington) and get into Mary- 
 land. We must keep up a good and thorough blockade 
 of their ports. We must march an army into east Ten- 
 nessee and liberate the Union sentiment there. Finally 
 we must rely on the people growing tired and saying to 
 their leaders : 'We have had enough of this thing, we will 
 bear it no longer'. " 
 
 Such was Mr. Lincoln's plan for heading off the Re- 
 bellion in the summer of 1861. How it enlarged as the 
 war progressed, from a call for seventy-five thousand vol- 
 unteers to one for five hundred thousand men and five 
 hundred millions of dollars, is a matter now of well- 
 known history. The war once inaugurated, it was plain the 
 North had three things to do. These were: the opening 
 of the Mississippi River; the blockade of the Southern 
 ports ; and the capture of Richmond. To accomplish these 
 great and vital ends the deadly machinery of war was set 
 in motion. The long-expected upheaval had come, and 
 as the torrent of fire broke forth the people in the agony 
 of despair looking aloft cried out, "Is our leader equal to 
 the task?" That he was the man for the hour is now the 
 calm, unbiased judgment of all mankind. 
 
 The splendid victories early in 1862 in the southwest, 
 which gave the Union cause great advance toward the en- 
 tire redemption of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Missouri 
 from the presence of rebel armies and the prevalence of 
 rebel influence, were counterbalanced by the dilatory move- 
 ments and inactive policy of McClellan, who had been ap- 
 pointed in November of the preceding year to succeed the 
 venerable Scott. The forbearance of Lincoln in dealing 
 with McClellan was only in keeping with his well-known 
 spirit of kindness; but, when the time came and circum- 
 stances warranted it, the soldier-statesman found that the 
 President not only comprehended the scope of the war, 
 but was determined to be commander-in-chief of the army 
 and navy himself. When it pleased him to place McClel- 
 lan again at the head of affairs, over the protest of such 
 
44^ LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 a wilful and indomitable spirit as Stanton, he displayed 
 elements of rare leadership and evidence of uncommon 
 capacity. His confidence in the ability and power of 
 Grant, when the press and many of the people had turned 
 against the hero of Vicksburg, was but another proof of 
 his sagacity and sound judgment. 
 
 As the bloody drama of war moves along we come now 
 to the crowning act in Mr. Lincoln's career — that sublime 
 stroke with which his name will be forever and indissol- 
 ubly united — the emancipation of the slaves. In the minds 
 of many people there had been a crying need for the lib- 
 eration of the slaves. Laborious efforts had been made to 
 hasten the issuance by the President of the Emancipation 
 Proclamation, but he was determined not to be forced into 
 premature and inoperative measures. Wendell Phillips 
 abused and held him up to public ridicule from the stump 
 in New England. Horace Greeley turned the batteries of 
 the Nczv York Tribune against him ; and, in a word, he 
 encountered all the rancor and hostility of his old friends 
 the Abolitionists. General Fremont having in the fall of 
 1861 undertaken by virtue of his authority as a military 
 commander to emancipate the slaves in his department, 
 the President annulled the order, which he characterized 
 as unauthorized and premature. This precipitated an ava- 
 lanche of fanatical opposition. Individuals and delega- 
 tions, many claiming to have been sent by the Lord, visited 
 him day after day, and urged immediate emancipation. 
 In August, 1862, Horace Greeley repeated the "prayer of 
 twenty millions of people" protesting against any further 
 delay. Such was the pressure from the outside. All his 
 life Mr. Lincoln had been a believer in the doctrine of 
 gradual emancipation. He advocated it while in Con- 
 gress in 1848; yet even now, as a military necessity, he 
 could not believe the time was ripe for the general lib- 
 eration of the slaves. All the coercion from without, and 
 all the blandishments from within, his political household 
 failed to move him. An heroic figure, indifferent alike 
 to praise and blame, he stood at the helm and waited. In 
 the shadow of his lofty form the smaller men could keep 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 443 
 
 up their petty conflicts. Towering thus, he overlooked 
 them all, and fearlessly abided his time. At last the great 
 moment came. He called his Cabinet together and read 
 the decree. The deed was done, unalterably, unhesitat- 
 ingly, irrevocably, and triumphantly. The people, at first 
 profoundly impressed, stood aloof, but, seeing the builder 
 beside the great structure he had so long been rearing, 
 their confidence was abundantly renewed. It was a glo- 
 rious work, "sincerely believed to be an act of justice war- 
 ranted by the constitution upon military necessity," and 
 upon it its author "invoked the considerate judgment of 
 mankind and the gracious favor of Almighty God." I 
 believe Mr. Lincoln wished to go down in history as 
 the liberator of the black man. He realized to its fullest 
 extent the responsibility and magnitude of the act, and 
 declared it was "the central act of his administration and 
 the great event of the nineteenth century/' Always a 
 friend of the negro, he had from boyhood waged a bitter 
 unrelenting warfare against his enslavement. He had 
 advocated his cause in the courts, on the stump, in the 
 Legislature of his State and that of the nation, and, as if 
 to crown it with a sacrifice, he sealed his devotion to the 
 great cause of freedom with his blood. As the years roll 
 slowly by, and the participants in the late war drop grad- 
 ually out of the ranks of men, let us pray that we may never 
 forget their deeds of patriotic valor; but even if the de- 
 tails of that bloody struggle grow dim, as they will with 
 the lapse of time, let us hope that so long as a friend of 
 free man and free labor lives the dust of forgetfulness 
 may never settle on the historic form of Abraham Lin- 
 coln. 
 
 As the war progressed, there was of course much criti- 
 cism of Mr. Lincoln's policy, and some of his political 
 rivals lost no opportunity to encourage opposition to his 
 methods. He bore everything meekly and with sublime 
 patience, but as the discontent appeared to spread he felt 
 called upon to indicate his course. On more than one oc- 
 casion he pointed out the blessings of the Emancipation 
 Proclamation or throttled the clamorer for immediate 
 
444 LIFE 0F LINCOLN 
 
 peace. In the following letter to James C. Conkling 4 of 
 Springfield, 111., in reply to an invitation to attend a mass 
 meeting of "Unconditional Union" men to be held at his 
 old home, he not only disposed of the advocates of com- 
 promise, but he evinced the most admirable skill in dealing 
 with the questions of the day : 
 
 "Executive Mansion, 
 Washington, August 26, 1863. 
 "HON. JAMES C. CONKLING. 
 
 "My Dear Sir : 
 
 "Your letter inviting me to attend a mass meeting of Un- 
 conditional Union men, to be held at the Capital of Illinois, 
 on the 3rd day of September, has been received. 
 
 "It would be very agreeable to me to thus meet my old 
 friends at my own home; but I cannot, just now, be absent 
 from here so long as a visit there would require. 
 
 "The meeting is to be of all those who maintain uncon- 
 ditional devotion to the Union; and I am sure my old political 
 friends will thank me for tendering, as I do, the nation's grati- 
 tude to those other noble men, whom no partisan malice, or 
 partisan's hope, can make false to the nation's life. 
 
 "There are those who are dissatisfied with me. To such I 
 
 4 In the original edition a letter from James C. Conkling to 
 Jesse W. Weik, Jan. 11, 1889, was printed as a footnote. There 
 Conkling wrote, "Mr. Bancroft, the historian, in commenting on 
 this letter, considers it addressed to me as one who was criticising 
 Mr. Lincoln's policy. On the contrary, I was directed by a 
 meeting of 'Unconditional Union' men to invite Mr. Lincoln to 
 attend a mass meeting composed of such men, and he simply 
 took occasion to address his opponents through the medium of 
 the letter." 
 
 At the same time Conkling transmitted a copy of the following 
 note from Lincoln: 
 
 "War Department, 
 
 "Washington City, D. C, August 27, 1862. 
 "My Dear Conkling: 
 
 "I cannot leave here now. Herewith is a letter instead. You 
 are one of the best public readers. I have but one suggestion — 
 read it very slowly. And now God bless you, and all good Union 
 men. 
 
 "Yours as ever, 
 
 "A. Lincoln." 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 445 
 
 would say : You desire peace ; and you blame me that we do 
 not have it. But how can we attain it? There are but three 
 conceivable ways. 
 
 "First, to suppress the rebellion by force of arms. This I 
 am trying to do. Are you for it? If you are, so far we are 
 agreed. If you are not for it, a second way is, to give up the 
 Union. I am against this. Are you for it? If you are, you 
 should say so plainly. If you are not for force, nor yet for 
 dissolution, there only remains some imaginable compromise. 
 I do not believe any compromise, embracing the maintenance 
 of the Union, is now possible. All I learn leads to a directly 
 opposite belief. The strength of the rebellion is its military 
 — its army. That army dominates all the country and all the 
 people within its range. Any offer of terms made by any 
 man or men within that range in opposition to that army is 
 simply nothing for the present, because such man or men 
 have no power whatever to enforce their side of a compro- 
 mise, if one were made with them. To illustrate : suppose 
 refugees from the South, and peace men of the North, get to- 
 gether in convention and frame and proclaim a compromise 
 embracing a restoration of the Union; in what way can that 
 compromise be used to keep Lee's army out of Pennsylvania? 
 Meade's army can keep Lee's army out of Pennsylvania, and 
 I think can ultimately drive it out of existence. 
 
 "But no paper compromise, to which the controllers of Lee's 
 army are not agreed, can at all affect that army. In an effort 
 at such compromise we should waste time, which the enemy 
 would improve to our disadvantage; and that would be all. 
 A compromise, to be effective, must be made either with those 
 who control the rebel army, or with the people first liberated 
 from the domination of that army by the success of our own 
 army. Now allow me to assure you that no word or intimation 
 from that rebel army or from any of the men controlling it, 
 in relation to any peace compromise, has ever come to my 
 knowledge or belief. 
 
 "All changes and insinuations to the contrary are deceptive 
 and groundless. And I promise you that, if any such proposi- 
 tion shall hereafter come, it shall not be rejected and kept a 
 secret from you. I freely acknowledge myself the servant of 
 the people, according to the bond of service — the United 
 States Constitution, and that, as such, I am responsible to 
 them. 
 
 "But to be plain, you are dissatisfied with me about the 
 
446 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 negro. Quite likely there is a difference of opinion between 
 you and myself upon that subject. 
 
 "I certainly wish that all men could be free, while I sup- 
 pose you do not. Yet I have neither adopted nor proposed 
 any measure which is not consistent with even your view, 
 provided you are for the Union. I suggested compensated 
 emancipation; to which you replied you wished not to be 
 taxed to buy negroes. But I had not asked you to be taxed to 
 buy negroes, except in such way as to save you from greater 
 taxation to save the Union exclusively by other means. 
 
 "You dislike the Emancipation Proclamation, and, perhaps, 
 would have it retracted. You say it is unconstitutional — I 
 think differently. I think the constitution invests its Com- 
 mander-in-chief with the law of war in time of war. The 
 most that can be said, if so much, is that slaves are property. 
 Is there — has there ever been — any question that by the law 
 of war, property, both of enemies and friends, may be taken 
 when needed? 
 
 "And is it not needed wherever taking it helps us or hurts 
 the enemy ? Armies the world over destroy enemies' property 
 when they cannot use it; and even destroy their own to keep 
 it from the enemy. Civilized belligerents do all in their power 
 to help themselves or hurt the enemy, except a few things 
 regarded as barbarous or cruel. 
 
 "Among the exceptions are the massacre of vanquished foes 
 and non-combatants, male and female. 
 
 "But the proclamation, as law, either is valid or is not 
 valid. 
 
 "If it is not valid, it needs no retraction. If it is valid, 
 it cannot be retracted any more than the dead can be brought 
 back to life. Some of you profess to think its retraction would 
 operate favorably for the Union. 
 
 "Why better after the retraction than before the issue? 
 
 "There was more than a year and a half of trial to sup- 
 press the rebellion before the proclamation issued, the last one 
 hundred days of which passed under an explicit notice that it 
 was coming, unless averted by those in revolt returning to 
 their allegiance. 
 
 "The war has certainly progressed as favorably for us since 
 the issue of the proclamation as before. 
 
 "I know as fully as one can know the opinion of others 
 that some of the commanders of our armies in the field who 
 have given us our most important successes believe the emanci- 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 447 
 
 pation policy and the use of the colored troops constituted the 
 heaviest blow yet dealt to the Rebellion, and that at least one 
 of these important successes could not have been achieved 
 when it was but for the aid of black soldiers. Among- the 
 commanders holding these views are some who have never 
 had any affinity with what is called abolitionism or with Re- 
 publican party policies, but who held them purely as military 
 opinions. I submit these opinions as being entitled to some 
 weight against the objections often urged that emancipation 
 and arming the blacks are unwise as military measures,, and 
 were not adopted as such in good faith. 
 
 "You say you will not fight to free negroes. Some of them 
 seem willing to fight for you; but no matter. 
 
 "Fight you, then, exclusively to save the Union. I issued 
 the proclamation on purpose to aid you in saving the Union. 
 Whenever you shall have conquered all resistance to the 
 Union, if I shall urge you to continue fighting, it will be an 
 apt time then for you to declare you will not fight to free 
 negroes. 
 
 "I thought that in your struggle for the Union, to what- 
 ever extent the negroes should cease helping the enemy, to 
 that extent it weakened the enemy in his resistance to you. 
 Do you think differently? I thought that whatever negroes 
 can be got to do as soldiers leaves just so much less for white 
 soldiers to do, in saving the Union. Does it appear otherwise 
 to you? 
 
 "But negroes, like other people, act upon motives. Why 
 should they do anything for us, if we will do nothing for 
 them ? If they stake their lives for us, they must be prompted 
 by the strongest motive — even the promise of freedom. And 
 the promise being made, must be kept. 
 
 "The signs look better. The Father of Waters again goes 
 unvexed to the sea. Thanks to the great North-west for it. 
 Nor yet wholly to them. Three hundred miles up they met 
 New England, Empire, Keystone, and Jersey, hewing their 
 way right and left. The Sunny South too, in more colors 
 than one, also lent a hand. 
 
 "On the spot, their part of the history was jotted down in 
 black and white. The job was a great national one; and let 
 none be barred who bore an honorable part in it. And while 
 those who have cleared the great river may well be proud, 
 even that is not all. It is hard to say that anything has been 
 more bravely and well done than at Antietam, Murfreesboro, 
 
448 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 Gettysburg, and on many fields of lesser note. Nor must 
 Uncle Sam's web-feet be forgotten. At all the watery margins 
 they have been present. Not only on the deep sea, the broad 
 bay, and the rapid river, but also up the narrow, muddy bayou, 
 and wherever the ground was a little damp, they have been, 
 and made their tracks, thanks to all. For the great republic — 
 for the principle it lives by and keeps alive — for man's vast 
 future — thanks to all. 
 
 "Peace does not appear so distant as it did. I hope it will 
 come soon and come to stay, and so come as to be worth the 
 keeping in all future time. It will then have been proved that, 
 among free men, there can be no successful appeal from the 
 ballot to the bullet; and that they who take such appeal are 
 sure to lose their case and pay the cost. And then there will 
 be some black men who can remember that, with silent tongue, 
 and clenched teeth, and steady eye, and well-poised bayonet, 
 they have helped mankind on to this great consummation ; 
 while I fear there will be some white ones, unable to forget 
 that, with malignant heart and deceitful speech, they have 
 strove to hinder it. 
 
 "Still, let us not be over-sanguine of a speedy final triumph. 
 Let us be quite sober. Let us diligently apply the means, never 
 doubting that a just God, in his own good time, will give us 
 the rightful result. 
 
 "Yours very truly, 
 
 "A. Lincoln." 
 
 The summer and fall of 1864 were marked by Lincoln's 
 second Presidential campaign, he, and Andrew Johnson, 
 of Tennessee, for Vice-President, having been nominated 
 at Baltimore on the 8th of June. Fremont, who had been 
 placed in the field by a convention of malcontents at Cleve- 
 land, Ohio, had withdrawn in September, and the contest 
 was left to Lincoln and General George B. McClellan, the 
 nominee of the Democratic convention at Chicago. The 
 canvass was a heated and bitter one. Dissatisfied elements 
 appeared everywhere. The Judge Advocate-General of 
 the army (Holt) created a sensation by the publication of a 
 report giving conclusive proof of the existence of an or- 
 ganized secret association at the North, controlled by 
 prominent men in the Democratic party, whose objects 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 449 
 
 were the overthrow by revolution of the administration in 
 the interest of the rebellion. 5 Threats were rife of a revo- 
 lution at the North, especially in New York City, if Mr. 
 Lincoln were elected. Mr. Lincoln went steadily on in his 
 
 5 In a statement to Herndon September 10, 1866, David Davis 
 said, "Mr. Lincoln was advised, and I also so advised him, that 
 the various military trials in the Northern and Border States, 
 where the courts were free and untrammelled, were unconstitu- 
 tional and wrong; that they would not and ought not to be 
 sustained by the Supreme Court; that such proceedings were 
 dangerous to liberty. He said he was opposed to hanging ; that 
 he did not like to kill his fellow-man; that if the world had no 
 butchers but himself it would go bloodless. When Joseph E. 
 McDonald went to Lincoln about these military trials and asked 
 him not to execute the men who had been executed by the military 
 commission in Indiana he answered that he would not hang them, 
 but added, Til keep them in prison awhile to keep them from 
 killing the Government.' I am fully satisfied therefore that 
 Lincoln was opposed to these military commissions, especially in 
 the Northern States, where everything was open and free/' 
 
 On this subject Joseph E. McDonald made the following state- 
 ment to Jesse W. Weik, August 28, 1888. "I was counsel for 
 Bowles, Milligan, et aL, who had been convicted of conspiracy 
 by military tribunal in Indiana. Early in 1865 I went to Wash- 
 ington to confer with the President, whom I had known, and 
 with whom in earlier days I had practised law on the circuit in 
 Illinois. My clients had been sentenced, and unless the President 
 interfered were to have been executed. Mr. Hendricks, who 
 was then in the Senate, and who seemed to have little faith in 
 the probability of executive clemency, accompanied me to the 
 White House. It was early in the evening, and so many callers 
 and visitors had preceded us we anticipated a very brief inter- 
 view. Much to our surprise we found Mr. Lincoln in a singularly 
 cheerful and reminiscent mood. He kept us with him till almost 
 eleven o'clock. He went over the history of my clients' crime 
 as shown by the papers in the case, and suggested certain errors 
 and imperfections in the record. The papers, he explained, would 
 have to be returned for correction, and that would consume no 
 little time. 'You may go home, Mr. McDonald,' he said, with a 
 pleased expression, 'and I'll send for you when the papers get 
 back; but I apprehend and hope there will be such a jubilee over 
 yonder,' he added, pointing to the hills of Virginia just across 
 the river, 'we shall none of us want any more killing done.' The 
 papers started on their long and circuitous journey, and sure 
 enough, before they reached Washington again Mr. Lincoln's 
 prediction of the return of peace had proved true." 
 
450 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 own peculiar way. In a preceding chapter Mr. Swett has 
 told us how indifferent he appeared to be regarding any 
 efforts to be made in his behalf. He did his duty as Presi- 
 dent, and rested secure in the belief that he would be re- 
 elected whatever might be done for or against him. The 
 importance of retaining Indiana in the column of Republi- 
 can States was not to be overlooked. How the President 
 viewed it, and how he proposed to secure the vote of the 
 State, is shown in the following letter written to General 
 Sherman : 
 
 "Executive Mansion, 
 "Washington, September 19, 1864. 
 "Major General Sherman: 
 
 "The State election of Indiana occurs on the 11th of Octo- 
 ber, and the loss of it to the friends of the Government would 
 go far towards losing the whole Union cause. The bad effect 
 upon the November election, and especially the giving the 
 State government to those who will oppose the war in every 
 possible way, are too much to risk if it can be avoided. The 
 draft proceeds, notwithstanding its strong tendency to lose 
 us the State. Indiana is the only important State voting in 
 October whose soldiers cannot vote in the field. Anything 
 you can safely do to let her soldiers or any part of them go 
 home and vote at the State election will be greatly in point. 
 They need not remain for the Presidential election, but may 
 return to you at once. This is in no sense an order, but is 
 merely intended to impress you with the importance to the 
 army itself of your doing all you safely can, yourself being 
 the judge of what you can safely do. 
 
 "Yours truly, 
 
 "A. Lincoln." 
 
 The election resulted in an overwhelming victory for 
 Lincoln. He received a majority of over four hundred 
 thousand in the popular vote — a larger majority than had 
 ever been received by any other President up to that time. 
 He carried not only Indiana, but all the New England 
 States, New York, Pennsylvania, all the Western States, 
 West Virginia, Tennessee, Louisiana, Arkansas, and the 
 newly admitted State of Nevada. McClellan carried but 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 45 1 
 
 three states : New Jersey, Delaware, and Kentucky. The 
 result, as Grant so aptly expressed it in his telegram of 
 congratulation, was "a victory worth more to the country 
 than a battle won." A second time Lincoln stood in front 
 of the great Capitol to take the oath of office administered 
 by his former rival, Salmon P. Chase, whom he himself 
 had appointed to succeed the deceased Roger B. Taney. 
 The problem of the war was now fast working its own 
 solution. The cruel stain of slavery had been effaced from 
 the national escutcheon, and the rosy morn of peace began 
 to dawn behind the breaking clouds of the great storm. 6 
 
 6 In a footnote to this sentence Herndon printed the following 
 letter from J. M. Ashley, November 23, 1866: 
 
 "I had given notice that at one o'clock on the 31st of January 
 I would call a vote on the proposed constitutional amendment 
 abolishing slavery in the United States. The opposition caught 
 up a report that morning that Peace Commissioners were on the 
 way to the city or were in the city. Had this been true I think 
 the proposed amendment would have failed, as a number who 
 voted for it could easily have been prevailed upon to vote against 
 it on the ground that the passage of such a proposition would 
 be offensive to the commissioners. Accordingly I wrote the 
 President this note: 
 
 " 'House of Representatives, 
 " 'January 31, 1865. 
 " 'Dear Sir : 
 
 " 'The report is in circulation in the House that Peace Com- 
 missioners are on their way or in the city, and is being used 
 against us. If it is true, I fear we shall lose the bill. Please 
 authorize me to contradict it, if it is not true. 
 
 " 'Respectfully, 
 
 " 'J. M. Ashley.' " 
 
 "Almost immediately came the reply, written on the back of 
 my note : 
 
 " 'So far as I know there are no Peace Commissioners in 
 the city or likely to be in it. "A. Lincoln/' 
 
 January 31, 1865. 
 
 "Mr. Lincoln knew that the commissioners were then on their 
 way to Fortress Monroe, where he expected to meet them, and 
 afterwards did meet them. You see how he answered my note 
 for my purposes, and yet how truly. You know how he after- 
 wards met the so-called commission, whom he determined at 
 the time he wrote this note should not come to the city. One 
 or two gentlemen were present when he wrote the note, to whom 
 he read it before sending it to me." 
 
452 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 Lincoln, firm but kind, in his inaugural address bade his 
 misguided brethren of the South come back. With a fra- 
 ternal affection characteristic of the man, and strictly in 
 keeping with his former utterances, he asked for the re- 
 turn of peace. "With malice toward none, with charity 
 for all," he implored his fellow-countrymen, "with firmness 
 in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on 
 to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, 
 to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his 
 widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and 
 cherish a just and a lasting peace among ourselves and with 
 all nations." With the coming of spring the great armies, 
 awakening from their long winter's sleep, began prepara- 
 tions for the closing campaign. Sherman had already made 
 that grandest march of modern times, from the mountains 
 of Tennessee through Georgia to the sea, while Grant, with 
 stolid indifference to public criticism and newspaper abuse, 
 was creeping steadily on through swamp and ravine to 
 Richmond. Thomas had defeated Hood in Tennessee, 
 sending the latter back with his army demoralized, cut in 
 pieces, and ruined. The young and daring Sheridan had 
 driven Early out of the Shenandoah Valley after a series 
 of brilliant engagements. The Kearsarge had sunk the 
 Alabama in foreign waters. Farragut had captured Mo- 
 bile, and the Union forces held undisputed possession of 
 the West and the Mississippi Valley from the lakes to the 
 gulf. Meanwhile Sherman, undaunted by the perils of a 
 further march through the enemy's country, returning 
 from the sea, was aiming for Richmond, where Grant, 
 with bull-dog tenacity, held Lee firmly in his grasp. Ere- 
 long, the latter, with his shattered army reduced to half 
 its original numbers, evacuated Richmond, with Grant in 
 close pursuit. A few days later the boys in blue overtook 
 those in gray at Appomattox Courthouse, and there, under 
 the warm rays of an April sun, the life was at last squeezed 
 out of the once proud but now prostrate Confederacy. 
 "The sun of peace had fairly risen. The incubus of war 
 that had pressed upon the nation's heart for four long, 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 453 
 
 weary years was lifted; and the nation sprang to its feet 
 with all possible demonstrations of joyous exultation. " 
 
 Mr. Lincoln himself had gone to the scene of hostilities 
 in Virginia. He watched the various military manoeuvres 
 and operations, which involved momentous consequences 
 to the country; he witnessed some of the bloody engage- 
 ments participated in by the army of the Potomac. Within 
 a day after its surrender he followed the victorious Union 
 army into the city of Richmond. In this unfortunate city 
 — once the proud capital of Virginia — now smoking and in 
 ruins, he beheld the real horrors of grim war. Here too 
 he realized in a bountiful measure the earnest gratitude of 
 the colored people, who everywhere crowded around him 
 and with cries of intense exultation greeted him as their 
 deliverer. He now returned to Washington, not like Na- 
 poleon fleeing sorrowfully from Waterloo bearing the tid- 
 ings of his own defeat, but with joy proclaiming the era 
 of Union victory and peace among men. "The war was 
 over. The great rebellion which for four long years had 
 been assailing the nation's life was quelled. Richmond, 
 the rebel capital, was taken ; Lee's army had surrendered ; 
 and the flag of the Union was floating in reassured su- 
 premacy over the whole of the National domain. Friday, 
 the 14th of April, the anniversary of the surrender of Fort 
 Sumter in 1861 by Major Anderson to the rebel forces, 
 had been designated by the Government as the day on 
 which the same officer should again raise the American flag 
 upon the fort in the presence of an assembled multitude, 
 and with ceremonies befitting so auspicious an occasion. 
 The whole land rejoiced at the return of peace and the 
 prospect of renewed prosperity to the country. President 
 Lincoln shared this common joy, but with a deep intensity 
 of feeling which no other man in the whole land could ever 
 know. He saw the full fruition of the great work which 
 had rested so heavily on his hands and heart for four years 
 past. He saw the great task — as momentous as had ever 
 fallen to the lot of man — which he had approached with 
 such unfeigned diffidence, nearly at an end. The agonies 
 
454 LIFE 0F LINCOLN 
 
 of war had passed away ; he had won the imperishable re- 
 nown which is the reward of those who save their coun- 
 try ; and he could devote himself now to the welcome task 
 of healing the wounds which war had made, and consoli- 
 dating by a wise and magnanimous policy the severed sec- 
 tions of our common Union. His heart was full of the 
 generous sentiments which these circumstances were so 
 well calculated to inspire. He was cheerful and hopeful 
 of the success of his broad plans for the treatment of the 
 conquered people of the South. With all the warmth of his 
 loving nature, after the four years of storm through 
 which he had been compelled to pass, he viewed the peace- 
 ful sky on which the opening of his second term had dawned. 
 His mind was free from forebodings and filled only with 
 thoughts of kindness and of future peace." But alas for 
 the vanity of human confidence ! The demon of assassina- 
 tion lurked near. In the midst of the general rejoicing at 
 the return of peace Mr. Lincoln was stricken down by the 
 assassin, John Wilkes Booth, in Ford's Theatre at Wash- 
 ington. The story of his death, though oft repeated, is the 
 saddest and most impressive page in American history. I 
 cannot well forbear reproducing its painful and tragic de- 
 tails here. 7 
 
 "Mr. Lincoln for years had a presentiment that he would 
 reach a high place and then be stricken down in some 
 tragic way. He took no precautions to keep out of the way 
 of danger. So many threats had been made against him 
 that his friends were alarmed, and frequently urged him 
 not to go out unattended. To all their entreaties he had 
 the same answer : 'If they kill me the next man will be 
 just as bad for them. In a country like this, where our 
 habits are simple, and must be, assassination is always 
 possible, and will come if they are determined upon it/ 
 
 "Whatever premonition of his tragic fate he may have 
 had, there is nothing to prove that he felt the nearness of 
 the awful hour. Doomed men rise and go about their daily 
 duties as unoppressed, often, as those whose paths know 
 
 7 Jesse W. Weik credited this account of the assassination to 
 Mrs. Gertrude Garrison of New York. 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 455 
 
 no shadow. On that never-to-be-forgotten 14th of April 
 President Lincoln passed the day in the usual manner. In 
 the morning his son, Captain Robert Lincoln, breakfasted 
 with him. The young man had just returned from the 
 capitulation of Lee, and he described in detail all the cir- 
 cumstances of that momentous episode of the close of the 
 war, to which the President listened with the closest inter- 
 est. After breakfast the President spent an hour with 
 Speaker Colfax, talking about his future policy, about to 
 be submitted to his Cabinet. At eleven o'clock he met the 
 Cabinet. General Grant was present. He spent the after- 
 noon with Governor Oglesby, Senator Yates, and other 
 friends from Illinois. He was invited by the manager of 
 Ford's theatre, in Washington to attend in the evening a 
 performance of the play, 'Our American Cousin,' with 
 Laura Keene as the leading lady. This play, now so well 
 known to all play-goers, in which the late Sothern after- 
 ward made fortune and fame, was then comparatively un- 
 heralded. Lincoln was fond of the drama. Brought up in 
 a provincial way, in the days when theatres were unknown 
 outside of the larger cities, the beautiful art of the actor 
 was fresh and delightful to him. He loved Shakespeare, 
 and never lost an opportunity of seeing his character 
 rendered by the masters of dramatic art. But on that 
 evening, it is said, he was not eager to go. The play was 
 new, consequently not alluring to him; but he yielded to 
 the wishes of Mrs. Lincoln and went. They took with 
 them Miss Harris and Major Rathbone, daughter and 
 stepson of Senator Harris, of New York. 
 
 "The theatre was crowded. At 9 :20 the President and 
 his party entered. The audience rose and cheered en- 
 thusiastically as they passed to the 'state box' reserved for 
 them. Little did anyone present dream that within the 
 hour enthusiasm would give place to shrieks of horror. It 
 was ten o'clock when Booth came upon the scene to enact 
 the last and greatest tragedy of the war. He had planned 
 carefully, but not correctly. A good horse awaited him at 
 the rear of the theatre, on which he intended to ride into 
 friendly shelter among the hills of Maryland. He made his 
 
456 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 way to the President's box — a double one in the second 
 tier, at the left of the stage. The separating partition had 
 been removed, and both boxes thrown into one. 
 
 "Booth entered the theatre nonchalantly, glanced at the 
 stage with apparent interest, then slowly worked his way 
 around into the outer passage leading toward the box 
 occupied by the President. At the end of an inner passage 
 leading to the box door, one of the President's 'messen- 
 gers' was stationed to prevent unwelcome intrusions. 
 Booth presented a card to him, stating that Mr. Lincoln 
 had sent for him, and was permitted to pass. After gain- 
 ing an entrance and closing the hall door, he took a piece 
 of board prepared for the occasion, and placed one end of 
 it in an indentation in the wall, about four feet from the 
 floor, and the other against the molding of the door panel 
 a few inches higher, making it impossible for any one to 
 enter from without. The box had two doors. He bored 
 a gimlet hole in the panel of one, reaming it out with his 
 knife, so as to leave it a little larger than a buckshot on the 
 inside, while on the other side it was big enough to give 
 his eye a wide range. Both doors had spring locks. To 
 secure against their being locked he had loosened the 
 screws with which the bolts were fastened. 
 
 "So deliberately had he planned that the very seats in 
 the box had been arranged to suit his purpose by an ac- 
 complice, one Spangler, an attache of the theatre. The 
 President sat in the left-hand corner of the box, nearest 
 the audience, in an easy arm-chair. Next to him, on the 
 right, sat Mrs. Lincoln. A little distance to the right of 
 both, Miss Harris was seated, with Major Rathbone at her 
 left, and a little in the rear of Mrs. Lincoln, who, intent 
 on the play, was leaning forward, with one hand resting 
 on her husband's knee. The President was leaning upon 
 one hand, and with the other was toying with a portion of 
 the drapery. His face was partially turned to the audience, 
 and wore a pleasant smile. 
 
 "The assassin swiftly entered the box through the door 
 at the right, and the next instant fired. The ball entered 
 just behind the President's left ear, and, though not pro- 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 457 
 
 ducing instantaneous death, completely obliterated all con- 
 sciousness. 
 
 "Major Rathbone heard the report, and an instant later 
 saw the murderer, about six feet from the President, and 
 grappled with him, but his grasp was shaken off. Booth 
 dropped his pistol and drew a long, thin, deadly-looking 
 knife, with which he wounded the major. Then, touching 
 his left hand to the railing of the box, he vaulted over to 
 the stage, eight or nine feet below. In that descent an 
 unlooked-for and curious thing happened, which foiled all 
 the plans of the assassin and was the means of bringing 
 him to bay at last. Lincoln's box was draped with the 
 American flag, and Booth, in jumping, caught his spur in 
 its folds, tearing it down and spraining his ankle. He 
 crouched as he fell, falling upon one knee, but soon 
 straightened himself and stalked theatrically across the 
 stage, brandishing his knife and shouting the State motto 
 of Virginia, 'Sic semper tyrannis !' afterward adding, 'The 
 South is avenged !' He made his exit on the opposite side 
 of the stage, passing Miss Keene as he went out. A man 
 named Stewart, a tall lawyer of Washington, was the only 
 person with presence of mind enough to spring upon the 
 stage and follow him, and he was too late. 
 
 "It had all been done so quickly and dramatically that 
 many in the audience were dazed, and could not understand 
 that anything not a part of the play had happened. When, 
 at last, the awful truth was known to them there ensued a 
 scene, the like of which was never known in a theatre be- 
 fore. Women shrieked, sobbed, and fainted. Men cursed 
 and raved, or were dumb with horror and amazement. Miss 
 Keene stepped to the front and begged the frightened and 
 dismayed audience to be calm. Then she entered the 
 President's box with water and stimulants. Medical aid 
 was summoned and came with flying feet, but came too 
 late. The murderer's bullet had done its wicked work well. 
 The President hardly stirred in his chair, and never spoke 
 or showed any signs of consciousness again. 
 
 "They carried him immediately to the house of Mr. 
 
458 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 Petersen, opposite the theatre, and there at 7 :22 the next 
 morning, the 15th of April, he died. 
 
 "The night of Lincoln's assassination was a memorable 
 one in Washington. Secretary Seward was attacked and 
 wounded while lying in bed with a broken arm. 
 
 "The murder of the President put the authorities on 
 their guard against a wide-reaching conspiracy, and threw 
 the public into a state of terror. The awful event was felt 
 even by those who knew not of it. Horsemen clattered 
 through the silent streets of Washington, spreading the 
 sad tidings, and the telegraph wires carried the terrible 
 story everywhere. The nation awakened from its dream 
 of peace on the 15th of April, 1865, to learn that its 
 protector, leader, friend, and restorer had been laid low 
 by a stage-mad 'avenger.' W. O. Stoddard, in his 'Life 
 of Lincoln/ says : 'It was as if there had been a death in 
 every house throughout the land. By both North and 
 South alike the awful news was received with a shudder 
 and a momentary spasm of unblief. Then followed one 
 of the most remarkable spectacles in the history of the 
 human race, for there is nothing else at all like it on 
 record. Bells had tolled before at the death of a loved 
 ruler, but never did all bells toll so mournfully as they did 
 that day. Business ceased. Men came together in public 
 meetings as if by a common impulse, and party lines and 
 sectional hatreds seemed to be obliterated/ 
 
 "The assassination took place on Friday evening, and 
 on the following Sunday funeral services were held in all 
 the churches in the land, and every church was draped in 
 mourning/' 
 
 The death of Mr. Lincoln was an indescribable shock 
 to his fellow countrymen. The exultation of victory over 
 the final and successful triumph of Union arms was sud- 
 denly changed to the lamentations of grief. In every 
 household throughout the length and breadth of the land 
 there was a dull and bitter agony as the telegraph bore 
 tidings of the awful deed. The public heart, filled with 
 joy over the news from Appomattox, now sank low with 
 a sacred terror as the sad tidings from the Capital came 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 459 
 
 in. In the great cities of the land all business instantly 
 ceased. Flags dropped half-mast from every winged mes- 
 senger of the sea, from every church spire, and from 
 every public building. Thousands upon thousands, drawn 
 by a common feeling, crowded around every place of public 
 resort and listened eagerly to whatever any public speaker 
 chose to say. Men met in the streets and pressed eaich 
 other's hands in silence, and burst into tears. The whole 
 nation, which the previous day had been jubilant and 
 hopeful, was precipitated into the depths of a profound 
 and tender woe. It was a memorable spectacle to the 
 world — a whole nation plunged into heartfelt grief and 
 the deepest sorrow. 
 
 The body of the dead President, having been embalmed, 
 was removed from the house in which the death occurred 
 to the White House, and there appropriate funeral services 
 were held. After the transfer of the remains to the Cap- 
 itol, where the body was exposed to view in the Rotunda 
 for a day, preparations were made for the journey to the 
 home of the deceased in Illinois. On the following day 
 (April 21) the funeral train left Washington amid the 
 silent grief of the thousands who had gathered to witness 
 its departure. At all the great cities along the route stops 
 were made, and an opportunity was given the people to 
 look on the face of the illustrious dead. The passage of 
 this funeral train westward through country, village, and 
 city, winding across the territory of vast States, along a 
 track of more than fifteen hundred miles, was a pageant 
 without a parallel in the history of the continent or the 
 world. At every halt in the sombre march vast crowds, 
 such as never before had collected together, filed past the 
 catafalque for a glimpse of the dead chieftain's face. 
 Farmers left their farms, workmen left their shops, so- 
 cieties and soldiers marched in solid columns, and the great 
 cities poured forth their population in countless masses. 
 From Washington the funeral train moved to Baltimore, 
 thence to Harrisburg, Philadelphia, New York, Albany, 
 Buffalo, Cleveland, Columbus, Indianapolis, Chicago, and 
 at last to Springfield. 
 
460 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 As the funeral cortege passed through New York it was 
 reverently gazed upon by a mass of humanity impossible 
 to enumerate. No ovation could be so eloquent as the 
 spectacle of the vast population, hushed and bareheaded 
 under the bright spring sky, gazing upon his coffin. Lin- 
 coln's own words over the dead at Gettysburg came to 
 many as the stately car went by : "The world will little note 
 nor long remember what we say here, but it can never for- 
 get what they did here." 
 
 It was remembered, too, that on the 22d of February, 
 1861, as he raised the American flag over Independence 
 Hall, in Philadelphia, he spoke of the sentiment in the 
 Declaration of Independence which gave liberty not only 
 to this country, but "I hope," he said, "to the world for 
 all future time. But if this country cannot be saved with- 
 out giving up that principle, I was about to say I would 
 rather be assassinated upon this spot than surrender it." 
 
 When he died the veil that hid his greatness was torn 
 aside, and the country then knew what it had possessed 
 and lost in him. A New York paper, of April 29, 1865, 
 said : "No one who personally knew him but will now 
 feel that the deep, furrowed sadness of his face seemed 
 to forecast his fate. The genial gentleness of his manner, 
 his homely simplicity, the cheerful humor that never failed, 
 are now seen to have been but the tender light that played 
 around the rugged heights of his strong and noble nature. 
 It is small consolation that he died at the moment of the 
 war when he could best be spared, for no nation is ever 
 ready for the loss of such a friend. But it is something 
 to remember that he lived to see slow day breaking. Like 
 Moses, he had marched with us through the wilderness. 
 From the height of patriotic vision he beheld the golden 
 fields of the future waving in peace and plenty. He 
 beheld, and blessed God, but was not to enter in." 
 
 In a discourse delivered on Lincoln on the 23d of that 
 month, Henry Ward Beecher said: 
 
 "And now the martyr is moving in triumphal march, 
 mightier than when alive. The nation rises up at every 
 stage of his coming. Cities and states are his pall-bearers, 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 461 
 
 and the cannon speaks the hours with solemn progression. 
 Dead, dead, dead, he yet speaketh. Is Washington dead? 
 Is Hampden dead? Is any man that was ever fit to live 
 dead? Disenthralled of flesh, risen to the unobstructed 
 sphere where passion never comes, he begins his illimitable 
 work. His life is now grafted upon the infinite, and will 
 be fruitful as no earthly life can be. Pass on, thou that 
 hast overcome. Ye people, behold the martyr whose blood, 
 as so many articulate words, pleads for fidelity, for law, 
 for liberty. ,, 
 
 The funeral train reached Springfield on the 3d of May. 
 The casket was borne to the State House and placed in 
 Representative Hall — the very chamber in which in 1854 
 the deceased had pronounced that fearful invective against 
 the sin of human slavery. The doors were thrown open, 
 the coffin lid was removed, and we who had known the 
 illustrious dead in other days, and before the nation lay 
 its claim upon him, moved sadly through and looked for 
 the last time on the silent, upturned face of our departed 
 friend. All day long and through the night a stream of 
 people filed reverently by the catafalque. Some of them 
 were his colleagues at the bar ; some his old friends from 
 New Salem ; some crippled soldiers fresh from the battle- 
 fields of the war ; and some were little children who, scarce 
 realizing the impressiveness of the scene, were destined to 
 live and tell their children yet to be born the sad story of 
 Lincoln's death. 
 
 At ten o'clock in the morning of the second day, as a 
 choir of two-hundred-and-fifty voices sang "Peace, 
 Troubled Soul/' the lid of the casket was shut down for- 
 ever. The remains were borne outside and placed in a 
 hearse, which moved at the head of a procession in charge 
 of General Joseph Hooker to Oak Ridge Cemetery. There 
 Bishop Matthew Simpson delivered an eloquent and im- 
 pressive funeral oration, and Rev. Dr. Gurley, of Washing- 
 ton, offered up the closing prayer. While the choir chanted 
 "Unveil Thy Bosom, Faithful Tomb/' the vault door 
 opened and received to its final rest all that was mortal of 
 Abraham Lincoln. 
 
462 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 "It was soon known that the murder of Lincoln was one 
 result of a conspiracy which had for its victims Secretary 
 Seward and probably Vice-President Johnson, Secretary 
 Stanton, General Grant, and perhaps others. Booth had 
 left a card for Mr. Johnson the day before, possibly with 
 the intention of killing him. Mr. Seward received wounds, 
 from which he soon recovered. Grant, who was to have 
 accompanied Lincoln to the theatre on the night of the 
 assassination, and did not, escaped unassailed. The gen- 
 eral conspiracy was poorly planned and lamely executed. 
 It involved about twenty-five persons. Mrs. Surratt, 
 David C. Herold, Lewis Payne, Edward Spangler, Michael 
 O'Laughlin, J. W. Atzerodt, Samuel Arnold, and Dr. 
 Samuel Mudd, who set Booth's leg, which was dislocated 
 by the fall from the stage-box, were among the number 
 captured and tried. 
 
 "After the assassination Booth escaped unmolested from 
 the theatre, mounted his horse, and rode away, accom- 
 panied by Herold, into Maryland. Cavalrymen scoured 
 the country, and eleven days after the shooting discovered 
 them in a barn on Garrett's farm, near Fort Royal on the 
 Rappahannock. The soldiers surrounded the barn and de- 
 manded a surrender. After the second demand Herold 
 surrendered, under a shower of curses from Booth, but 
 Booth refused, declaring that he would never be taken 
 alive. The captain of the squad then fired the barn. A 
 correspondent thus describes the scene : 
 
 " 'The blaze lit up the recesses of the great barn till 
 every wasp's nest and cobweb in the roof were luminous, 
 flinging streaks of red and violet across the tumbled farm 
 gear in the corner. They tinged the beams, and upright 
 columns, the barricades, where clover and timothy piled 
 high held toward the hot incendiary their separate straws 
 for the funeral pile. They bathed the murderer's retreat 
 in a beautiful illumination, and, while in bold outlines his 
 figure stood revealed, they rose like an impenetrable wall 
 to guard from sight the hated enemy who lit them. Be- 
 hind the blaze, with his eye to a crack, Colonel Conger 
 saw Wilkes Booth standing upright upon a crutch. At 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 463 
 
 the gleam of fire Booth dropped his crutch and carbine, 
 and on both hands crept up to the spot to espy the incen- 
 diary and shoot him dead. His eyes were lustrous with 
 fever, and swelled and rolled in terrible beauty, while his 
 teeth were fixed and he wore the expression of one in the 
 calmness before frenzy. In vain he peered, with ven- 
 geance in his look; the blaze that made him visible con- 
 cealed his enemy. A second he turned glaring at the fire, 
 as if to leap upon it and extinguish it, but it had made 
 such headway that be dismissed the thought. As calmly as 
 upon the battle-field a veteran stands amidst the hail of 
 ball and shell and plunging iron, Booth turned and pushed 
 the door, carbine in poise, and the last resolve of death, 
 which we name despair, set on his high, bloodless forehead. 
 
 " 'Just then Sergeant Boston Corbett fired through a 
 crevice and shot Booth in the neck. He was carried out 
 of the barn and laid upon the grass, and there died about 
 four hours afterwards. Before his misguided soul passed 
 into the silence of death he whispered something which 
 Lieutenant Baker bent down to hear. "Tell mother I die 
 for my country," he said, faintly. Reviving a moment 
 later he repeated the words, and added, "I thought I did 
 for the best," 
 
 " 'His days of hiding and fleeing from his pursuers had 
 left him pale, haggard, dirty, and unkempt. He had cut ofif 
 his mustache and cropped his hair close to his head, and he 
 and Herold both wore the Confederate gray uniform.' 
 
 "Booth's body was taken to Washington, and a post 
 mortem examination of it held on board the monitor Mon- 
 tauk, and on the night of the 27th of April it was given 
 in charge of two men in a rowboat, who, it is claimed, 
 disposed of it in secrecy — how, none but themselves know. 
 Numerous stories have been told of the final resting-place 
 of that hated dead man. Whoever knows the truth of it 
 tells it not. 
 
 "Sergeant Corbett, who shot Booth, fired without orders. 
 The last instructions given by Colonel Baker to Colonel 
 Conger and Lieutenant Baker were: 'Don't shoot Booth, 
 but take him alive.' Corbett was something of a fanatic, 
 
464 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 and for a breach of discipline had once been court-mar- 
 tialled and sentenced to be shot. The order, however, was 
 not executed, but he had been drummed out of the regi- 
 ment. He belonged to Company L, of the Sixteenth New 
 York Cavalry. He was English by birth, but was brought 
 up in this country, and learned the trade of hat finisher. 
 While living in Boston he joined the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church. Never having been baptized, he was at a loss 
 to know what name to adopt, but after making it a subject 
 of prayer he took the name of Boston, in honor of the 
 place of his conversion. He was ever undisciplined and 
 erratic. He is said to be living in Kansas, and draws a 
 pension from the Government. 
 
 "Five of the conspirators were tried, and three, Payne, 
 Herold, and Mrs. Surratt, were hanged. Dr. Mudd was 
 sent to the Dry Tortugas for a period of years, and there 
 did such good work among the yellow-fever suffers during 
 an epidemic that he was pardoned and returned to this 
 country. He died only about two years ago at his home 
 in Maryland, near Washington. Atzerodt was sent to the 
 Dry Tortugas also, and died there years ago. John Surratt 
 fled to Italy, and there entered the Papal guards. He was 
 discovered by Archbishop Hughes, and by the courtesy of 
 the Italian Government, though the extradition laws did 
 not cover this case, was delivered over to the United 
 States for trial. At his first trial the jury hung; at the 
 second, in which Edwards Pierrepont was the Government 
 counsel, Surratt got off on the plea of limitations. He 
 undertook to lecture, and began at Rockville, Md. The 
 Evening Star, of Washington, reported the lecture, which 
 was widely copied, and was of such a feeble character that 
 it killed him as a lecturer. He went to Baltimore, where, 
 it is said, he still lives. Spangler, the scene-shifter, who 
 was an accomplice of Booth, was sent to the Dry Tortugas, 
 served out his term and died about ten years ago. 
 McLaughlin, who was arrested because of his acquaintance 
 with the conspirators, was sent to the Dry Tortugas and 
 there died. 
 
 "Ford's Theatre was never played in after that memora- 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 465 
 
 ble night. Ten or twelve days after the assassination Ford 
 attempted to open it, but Stanton prevented it, and the 
 Government bought the theatre for $100,000, and con- 
 verted it into a medical museum. Ford was a Southern 
 sympathizer. He ran two theatres until four years ago, 
 one in Washington and one in Baltimore. Alison Naylor, 
 the livery man who let Booth have his horse, still lives in 
 Washington. Major Rathbone, who was in the box with 
 Lincoln when he was shot, died within the last four years. 
 Stewart, the man who jumped on the stage to follow 
 Booth, and announced to the audience that he had escaped 
 through the alley, died lately. Strange, but very few per- 
 sons can now be found who were at the theatre that night. 
 Laura Keene died a few years ago. 
 
 "Booth the assassin was the third son of the eminent 
 English tragedian Junius Brutus Booth, and the brother 
 of the equally renowned Edwin Booth. He was only 
 twenty-six years old when he figured as the chief actor in 
 this horrible drama. He began his dramatic career as John 
 Wilkes, and as a stock actor gained a fair reputation, but 
 had not achieved any special success. He had played 
 chiefly in the South and West, and but a few times in New 
 York. Some time before the assassination of Lincoln he 
 had abandoned his profession on account of a bronchial 
 affection. Those who knew him and saw him on that fatal 
 Friday say that he was restless, like one who, consciously 
 or unconsciously, was overshadowed by some awful fate. 
 He knew that the President and his party intended to be 
 present at Ford's theatre in the evening, and he asked an 
 acquaintance if he should attend the performance, remark- 
 ing that if he did he would see some unusually fine acting. 
 He was a handsome man. His eyes were large and dark, 
 his hair dark and inclined to curl, his features finely 
 moulded, his form tall, and his address pleasing." 
 
 Frederick Stone, counsel for Herold after Booth's death, 
 is authority for the statement that the occasion for Lin- 
 coln's assassination was the sentiment expressed by the 
 President in a speech delivered from the steps of the 
 White House on the night of April 11, when he said: "If 
 
466 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 universal amnesty is granted to the insurgents I cannot see 
 how I can avoid exacting in return universal suffrage, or 
 at least suffrage on the basis of intelligence and military 
 service. ,, Booth was standing before Mr. Lincoln on the 
 outskirts of the crowd. "That means nigger citizenship/' 
 he said to Herold by his side. "Now, by God! I'll put 
 him through." But whatever may have been the incentive, 
 Booth seemed to crave the reprehensible fame that attaches 
 to a bold and dramatically wicked deed. He may, it is true, 
 have been mentally unhinged, but, whether sane or sense- 
 less, he made for himself an infamous and endless noto- 
 riety when he murdered the patient, forbearing man who 
 had directed our ship of state through the most tempes- 
 tuous waters it ever encountered. 
 
 In the death of Lincoln the South, prostrate and bleed- 
 ing, lost a friend; and his unholy taking-off at the very 
 hour of the assured supremacy of the Union cause ran the 
 iron into the heart of the North. His sun went down sud- 
 denly, and whelmed the country in a darkness which was 
 felt by every heart; but far up the clouds sprang apart, 
 and soon the golden light, flooding the heavens with radi- 
 ance, illuminated every uncovered brow with the hope of a 
 fair tomorrow. His name will ever be the watchword of 
 liberty. His work is finished, and sealed forever with the 
 veneration given to the blood of martyrs. Yesterday a 
 man reviled and abused, a target for the shafts of malice 
 and hatred : today an apostle. Yesterday a power : today 
 a prestige, sacred, irresistible. The life and the tragic 
 death of Mr. Lincoln mark an epoch in history from which 
 dates the unqualified annunciation by the American people 
 of the greatest truth in the bible of republicanism — the very 
 keystone of that arch of human rights which is destined to 
 overshadow and remodel every government upon the earth. 
 The glorious brightness of that upper world, as it welcomed 
 his faint and bleeding spirit, broke through upon the earth 
 at his exit — it was drawn of a day growing brighter as the 
 grand army of freedom follows in the march of time. 
 
 Lincoln's place in history will be fixed — aside from his 
 personal characteristics — by the events and results of the 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 467 
 
 war. As a great political leader who quelled a rebellion of 
 eight millions of people, liberated four millions of slaves, 
 and demonstrated to the world the ability of the people to 
 maintain a government of themselves, by themselves, for 
 themselves, he will assuredly occupy no insignificant place. 
 
 To accomplish the great work of preserving the Union 
 cost the land a great price. Generations of Americans yet 
 unborn, and humanity everywhere, for years to come will 
 mourn the horrors and sacrifices of the first civil war in the 
 United States; but above the blood of its victims, above 
 the bones of its dead, above the ashes of desolate hearths, 
 will arise the colossal figure of Abraham Lincoln as the 
 most acceptable sacrifice offered by the nineteenth century 
 in expiation of the great crime of the seventeenth. Above 
 all the anguish and tears of that immense hecatomb will 
 appear the shade of Lincoln as the symbol of hope and of 
 pardon. 
 
 This is the true lesson of Lincoln's life : real and endur- 
 ing greatness, that will survive the corrosion and abrasion 
 of time, of change, and of progress, must rest upon char- 
 acter. In certain brilliant and what is understood to be 
 most desirable endowments how many Americans have sur- 
 passed him. Yet how he looms above them all! Not 
 eloquence, nor logic, nor grasp of thought; not states- 
 manship, nor power of command, nor courage; not any 
 nor all of these have made him what he is, but these, in 
 the degree in which he possessed them, conjoined to those 
 qualities comprised in the term character, have given him 
 his fame — have made him for all time to come the great 
 American, the grand, central figure in American — perhaps 
 the world's — history. 
 
CHAPTER TWENTY 1 
 
 SOON AFTER THE DEATH OF MR. LINCOLN DR. J. G. HOL- 
 
 land came out to Illinois from his home in Massachusetts 
 to gather up materials for a life of the dead President. 
 The gentleman spent several days with me, and I gave 
 him all the assistance that lay in my power. I was much 
 pleased with him, and awaited with not a little interest 
 the appearance of his book. I felt sure that even after 
 my long and intimate acquaintance with Mr. Lincoln I 
 never fully knew and understood him, and I therefore 
 wondered what sort of a description Dr. Holland, after 
 interviewing Lincoln's old-time friends, would make of 
 his individual characteristics. When the book appeared 
 he said this : "The writer has conversed with multitudes 
 of men who claimed to know Mr. Lincoln intimately : yet 
 there are not two of the whole number who agree in their 
 estimate of him. The fact was that he rarely showed 
 more than one aspect of himself to one man. He opened 
 himself to men in different directions. To illustrate the 
 effect of the peculiarity of Mr. Lincoln's intercourse with 
 men it may be said that men who knew him through all 
 his professional and political life offered opinions as dia- 
 metrically opposite as these, viz.: that he was a very am- 
 bitious man, and that he was without a particle of ambition ; 
 that he was one of the saddest men that ever lived, and 
 that he was one of the jolliest men that ever lived; that 
 he was very religious, but that he was not a Christian; 
 that he was a Christian, but did not know it; that he was 
 
 1 This chapter is in large part a condensation of the three 
 ectures which Herndon delivered in Springfield in the winter 
 of 1865-66. See Editor's Preface, p. xxviii. 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 469 
 
 so far from being a religious man or a Christian that 'the 
 less said upon that subject the better'; that he was the 
 most cunning man in America, and that he had not a 
 particle of cunning in him ; that he had the strongest per- 
 sonal attachments, and that he had no personal attach- 
 ments at all — only a general good feeling towards every- 
 body ; that he was a man of indomitable will, and that he 
 was a man almost without a will ; that he was a tyrant, and 
 that he was the softest-hearted, most brotherly man that 
 ever lived; that he was remarkable for his pure-minded- 
 ness, and that he was the foulest in his jests and stories 
 of any man in the country; that he was a witty man, and 
 that he was only a retailer of the wit of others; that his 
 apparent candor and fairness were only apparent, and 
 that they were as real as his head and his hands ; that he was 
 a boor, and that he was in all respects a gentleman ; that 
 he was a leader of the people, and that he was always led 
 by the people; that he was cool and impassive, and that 
 he was susceptible of the strongest passions. It is only 
 by tracing these separate streams of impression back to 
 their fountain that we are able to arrive at anything like 
 a competent comprehension of the man, or to learn why 
 he came to be held in such various estimation. Men caught 
 only separate aspects of his character — only the frag- 
 ments that were called into exhibition by their own qual- 
 
 2 Nothing in Herndon's Lincoln has aroused more speculation 
 than the identity of the writer of the following bitter estimate 
 of Lincoln's character. At one time or another almost every 
 attorney with whom Lincoln ever came in contact has been 
 suspected of its authorship. However, in 1926 Dr. William E. 
 Barton published a solution of the mystery. Among the Lamon 
 papers in the Henry E. Huntington Library is a copy of this 
 document which bears on its margins the penciled initials 
 "E. B. H." This points unmistakably to Elliott B. Herndon, 
 William H. Herndon's brother, an able lawyer and an uncom- 
 promising political opponent of Lincoln. Dr. Barton points out 
 that William H. Herndon inserted the word "lawyer" in the 
 first sentence in order to conceal the identity of the writer. The 
 Lamon copy simply states that the estimate was written at "the 
 request of a brother." He also condensed the original document 
 
470 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 Dr. Holland had only found what Lincoln's friends 
 had always experienced in their relations with him — that 
 he was a man of many moods and many sides. He never 
 revealed himself entirely to any one man, and therefore 
 he will always to a certain extent remain enveloped in 
 doubt. Even those who were with him through long years 
 of hard study and under constantly varying circumstances 
 can hardly say they knew him through and through. I 
 always believed I could read him as thoroughly as any 
 man, and yet he was so different in many respects from 
 
 somewhat and made several verbal changes. These, however, 
 resulted in no material modification of the writer's meaning. 
 
 "I beg to note here in passing," the original footnote reads, 
 "the estimate of Lincoln's mind and character by one of his 
 colleagues at the bar in Springfield who still survives, but whose 
 name, for certain reasons, I am constrained to withhold. I still 
 retain the original MS. written by him twenty years ago. 'I 
 am particularly requested,' he says, 'to write out my opinion of 
 the mind of Abraham Lincoln, late President of the United 
 States, and I consent to do so without any other motive than 
 to comply with the request of a brother lawyer, for, if I know 
 myself, no other motive would induce me to do it, because, while 
 Mr. Lincoln and I were always good friends, I believe myself 
 wholly indifferent to the future of his memory. The opinion I 
 now have was formed by a personal and professional acquaintance 
 of over ten years, and has not been altered or influenced by 
 any of his promotions in public life. The adulation by base 
 multitudes of a living, and the pageantry surrounding a dead, 
 President do not shake my well-settled convictions of the man's 
 mental calibre. Physiologically and phrenologically the man was 
 a sort of monstrosity. His frame was large, long, bony and 
 muscular; his head, small and disproportionately shaped. He 
 had large, square jaws; large, heavy nose; small, lascivious mouth; 
 and soft, tender, bluish eyes. I would say he was a cross between 
 Venus and Hercules. I believe it to be inconsistent with the 
 laws of human organization for any such creature to possess a 
 mind capable of anything called great. The man's mind partook 
 of the incongruities of his body. He had no mind not possessed 
 by the most ordinary of men. It was simply the peculiarity of 
 his mental and the oddity of his physical structure, as well as 
 the qualities of his heart that singled him out from the mass 
 of men. His native love of justice, truth, and humanity led his 
 mind a great way in the accomplishment of his 'objects in life. 
 That passion or sentiment steadied and determined an otherwise 
 indecisive mind'." 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 47 1 
 
 any other one I ever met before or since his time that I 
 cannot say I comprehended him. In this chapter I give 
 my recollection of his individual characteristics as they 
 occur to me, and allow the world to form its own opinion. 
 If my recollection of the man destroys any other person's 
 ideal, I cannot help it. By a faithful and lifelike descrip- 
 tion of Lincoln the man, and a study of his peculiar and 
 personal traits, perhaps some of the apparent contradic- 
 tions met with by Dr. Holland will have melted from sight. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln was six feet four inches high, and when 
 he left the city of his home for Washington was fifty- 
 one years old, having good health and no gray hairs, or 
 but few, on his head. He was thin, wiry, sinewy, raw- 
 boned; thin through the breast to the back, and narrow 
 across the shoulders; standing he leaned forward — was 
 what may be called stoop-shouldered, inclining to the con- 
 sumptive by build. His usual weight was one hundred 
 and eighty pounds. His organization — rather his struc- 
 ture and functions — worked slowly. His blood had to 
 run a long distance from his heart to the extremities of 
 his frame, and his nerve force had to travel through dry 
 ground a long distance before his muscles were obedient to 
 his will. His structure was loose and leathery; his body 
 was shrunk and shriveled ; he had dark skin, dark hair, 
 and looked woe-struck. The whole man, body and mind, 
 worked slowly, as if it needed oiling. Physically he was 
 a very powerful man, lifting with ease four hundred, 
 and in one case six hundred pounds. His mind was like 
 his body, and worked slowly but strongly. Hence there 
 was very little bodily or mental wear and tear in him. 
 This peculiarity in his construction gave him great ad- 
 vantage over other men in public life. No man in Amer- 
 ica — scarcely a man in the world — could have stood what 
 Lincoln did in Washington and survived through more 
 than one term of the Presidency. 
 
 When he walked he moved cautiously but firmly; his 
 long arms and giant hands swung down by his side. He 
 walked with even tread, the inner sides of his feet being 
 parallel. He put the whole foot flat down on the ground at 
 
472 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 once, not landing on the heel ; he likewise lifted his foot 
 all at once, not rising from the toe, and hence he had no 
 spring to his walk. His walk was undulatory — catching 
 and pocketing tire, weariness, and pain, all up and down 
 his person, and thus preventing them from locating. The 
 first impression of a stranger, or a man who did not ob- 
 serve closely, was that his walk implied shrewdness and 
 cunning — that he was a tricky man ; but, in reality, it was 
 the walk of caution and firmness. In sitting down on a 
 common chair he was no taller than ordinary men. His 
 legs and arms were abnormally, unnaturally long, and in 
 undue proportion to the remainder of his body. It was 
 only when he stood up that he loomed above other men. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln's head was long, and tall from the base of 
 the brain and from the eyebrows. His head ran back- 
 wards, his forehead rising as it ran back at a low angle, 
 like Clay's, and unlike Webster's, which was almost per- 
 pendicular. The size of his hat measured at the hatter's 
 block was seven and one-eighth, his head being, from ear 
 to ear, six and one-half inches, and from the front to the 
 back of the brain eight inches. Thus measured it was not 
 below medium size. His forehead was narrow but high; 
 his hair was dark, almost black, and lay floating where 
 his fingers or the winds left it, piled up at random. His 
 cheek-bones were high, sharp, and prominent; his jaws 
 were long and upcurved; his nose was large, long, blunt, 
 and a little awry towards the right eye ; his chin was sharp 
 and upcurved ; his eyebrows cropped out like a huge rock 
 on the brow of a hill ; his long, sallow face was wrinkled 
 and dry, with a hair here and there on the surface; his 
 cheeks were leathery; his ears were large, and ran out 
 almost at right angles from his head, caused partly by 
 heavy hats and partly by nature ; his lower lip was thick, 
 hanging, and undercurved, while his chin reached for the 
 lip upcurved ; his neck was neat and trim, his head being 
 well balanced on it ; there was the lone mole on the right 
 cheek, and Adam's apple on his throat. 
 
 Thus stood, walked, acted, and looked Abraham Lin- 
 coln. He was not a pretty man by any means, nor was 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 473 
 
 he an ugly one; he was a homely man, careless of his 
 looks, plain-looking and plain-acting. He had no pomp, 
 display, or dignity, so-called. He appeared simple in his 
 carriage and bearing. He was a sad-looking man ; his 
 melancholy dripped from him as he walked. His apparent 
 gloom impressed his friends, and created sympathy for 
 him — one means of his great success. He was gloomy, 
 abstracted, and joyous — rather humorous — by turns; but 
 I do not think he knew what real joy was for many years. 
 
 Lincoln's melancholy never failed to impress any man 
 who ever saw or knew him. The perpetual look of sad- 
 ness was his most prominent feature. The cause of this 
 peculiar condition was a matter of frequent discussion 
 among his friends. John T. Stuart said it was due to his 
 abnormal digestion. His liver failed to work properly — 
 did not secrete bile — and his bowels were equally as inac- 
 tive. "I used to advise him to take blue-mass pills/' re- 
 lated Stuart, "and he did take them before he went to 
 Washington, and for five months while he was President, 
 but when I came on to Congress he told me he had ceased 
 using them because they made him cross." The reader 
 can hardly realize the extent of this peculiar tendency to 
 gloom. One of Lincoln's colleagues in the Legislature of 
 Illinois is authority for the statement coming from Lin- 
 coln himself that "this mental depression became so in- 
 tense at times he never dared carry a pocket-knife." Two 
 things greatly intensified his characteristic sadness: one 
 was the endless succession of troubles in his domestic 
 life, which he had to bear in silence; and the other was 
 unquestionably the knowledge of his own obscure and 
 lowly origin. The recollection of these things burned a 
 deep impress on his sensitive soul. 
 
 As to the cause of this morbid condition my idea has 
 always been that it was occult, and could not be explained 
 by any course of observation and reasoning. It was in- 
 grained, and, being ingrained, could not be reduced to rule, 
 or the cause arrayed. It was necessarily hereditary, but 
 whether it came down from a long line of ancestors and 
 far back, or was simply the reproduction of the saddened 
 
474 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 life of Nancy Hanks, cannot well be determined. At any 
 rate it was part of his nature, and could no more be shaken 
 off than he could part with his brains. 3 
 
 Mr. Lincoln sometimes walked our streets cheerily, he 
 was not always gloomy, and then it was that on meeting 
 a friend he greeted him with a plain "Howdy?" clasping 
 his hand in both his own, and gave him a hearty soul- 
 welcome. On a winter's morning he might be seen stalk- 
 ing towards the market-house, basket on arm, his old gray 
 shawl wrapped around his neck, his little boy Willie or 
 Tad running along at his heels asking a thousand boyish 
 questions, which his father, in deep abstraction, neither 
 heeded nor heard. 4 If a friend met or passed him, and he 
 
 8 This and the preceding paragraph were footnotes in the 
 original edition. 
 
 4 <k I lived next door to the Lincoln's for many years, knew the 
 family well, ,, said James Gourly in a statement he made to 
 Herndon February 9, 1866. "Mr. Lincoln used to come to our 
 house, his feet encased in a pair of loose slippers, and with an 
 old, faded pair of trousers fastened with one suspender. He 
 frequently came to our house for milk. Our rooms were low, 
 and he said one day, 'Jim> you'll have to lift your loft a little 
 higher; I can't straighten out under it very well.' To my wife, 
 who was short of stature, he used to say that little people had 
 some advantages : they required less 'wood and wool to make 
 them comfortable/ In his yard Lincoln had but little shrubbery. 
 He once planted some rose bushes, to which he called my atten- 
 tion, but soon neglected them altogether. He never planted 
 any vines or fruit trees, seemed to have no fondness for such 
 things. At one time, yielding to my suggestion, he undertook to 
 keep a garden in the rear part of his yard, but one season's 
 experience sufficed to cure him of all desire for another. He 
 kept his own horse, fed and curried it when at home; he also 
 fed and milked his own cow, and sawed his own wood. Mr. 
 Lincoln and his wife agreed moderately well. Frequently Mrs. 
 Lincoln's temper would get the better of her. If she became 
 furious, as she often did, her husband tried to pay no attention 
 to her. He would sometimes laugh at her, but generally he 
 would pick up one of the children and walk off. I have heard 
 her say that if Mr. Lincoln had remained at home more she 
 could have loved him better. One day while Mr. Lincoln was 
 absent — he had gone to Chicago to try a suit in the United States 
 Court — his wife and I formed a conspiracy to take off the roof 
 and raise his house. It was originally a frame structure one 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 475 
 
 awoke from his reverie, something would remind him of a 
 story he had heard in Indiana, and tell it he would, and 
 there was no alternative but to listen. 
 
 Thus, I repeat, stood and walked and talked this singu- 
 lar man. He was odd, but when that gray eye and that 
 face and those features were lit up by the inward soul in 
 fires of emotion, then it was that all those apparently ugly 
 features sprang into organs of beauty or disappeared in 
 the sea of inspiration that often flooded his face. Some- 
 times it appeared as if Lincoln's soul was fresh from its 
 Creator. 
 
 I have asked the friends and foes of Mr. Lincoln alike 
 what they thought of his perceptions. One gentleman of 
 unquestioned ability and free from all partiality or prej- 
 udice said, "Mr. Lincoln's perceptions were slow T , a little 
 perverted, if not somewhat distorted and diseased." If 
 the meaning of this is that Mr. Lincoln saw things from a 
 peculiar angle of his being, and from this was susceptible 
 to nature's impulses, and that he so expressed himself, then 
 I have no objection to what is said. Otherwise I dissent. 
 Mr. Lincoln's perceptions were slow, cold, clear, and exact. 
 Everything came to him in its precise shape and color. To 
 some men the world of matter and of man comes orna- 
 mented with beauty, life, and action; and hence more or 
 less false and inexact. No lurking illusion or other error, 
 false in itself and clad for the moment in robes of splen- 
 dor, ever passed undetected or unchallenged over the thres- 
 hold of his mind — that point which divides vision from the 
 realm and home of thought. Names to him were noth- 
 ing, and titles naught — assumption always standing back 
 abashed at his cold, intellectual glare. Neither his per- 
 ceptions nor intellectual vision were perverted, distorted, 
 or diseased. He saw all things through a perfect mental 
 lens. There was no diffraction or refraction there. He 
 
 story and a half high. When Lincoln returned he met a gentle- 
 man on the sidewalk and, looking at his own house and mani- 
 festing great surprise, inquired: 'Stranger, can you tell me where 
 Lincoln lives V The gentleman gave him the necessary informa- 
 tion, and Lincoln gravely entered his own premises." 
 
4/6 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 was not impulsive, fanciful, or imaginative ; but cold, calm, 
 and precise. He threw his whole mental light around the 
 object, and, after a time, substance and quality stood apart, 
 form and color took their appropriate places, and all was 
 clear and exact in his mind. His fault, if any, was that 
 he saw things less than they really were ; less beautiful and 
 more frigid. He crushed the unreal, the inexact, the hol- 
 low, and the sham. He saw things in rigidity rather than 
 in vital action. He saw what no man could dispute, but 
 he failed to see what might have been seen. 
 
 To some minds the world is all life, a soul beneath the 
 material ; but to Mr. Lincoln no life was individual that did 
 not manifest itself to him. His mind was his standard. His 
 mental action was deliberate, and he was pitiless and per- 
 sistent in pursuit of the truth. No error went undetected, 
 no falsehood unexposed, if he once was aroused in search 
 of the truth. The true peculiarity of Mr. Lincoln has not 
 been seen by his various biographers; or, if seen, they 
 have failed woefully to give it that importance which it 
 deserves. Newton beheld the law of the universe in the 
 fall of an apple from a tree to the ground ; Owen saw the 
 animal in its claw ; Spencer saw evolution in the growth of 
 a seed; and Shakespeare saw human nature in the laugh 
 of a man. Nature was suggestive to all these men. Mr. 
 Lincoln no less saw philosophy in a story and an object 
 lesson in a joke. His was a new and original position, 
 one which was always suggesting something to him. The 
 world and man, principles and facts, all were full of sug- 
 gestions to his susceptible soul. They continually put him 
 in mind of something. His ideas were odd and original 
 for the reason that he was a peculiar and original creation 
 himself. 
 
 His power in the association of ideas was as great as his 
 memory was tenacious and strong. His language indicated 
 oddity and originality of vision as well as expression. 
 Words and language are but the counterparts of the idea 
 — the other half of the idea; they are but the stinging, 
 hot, leaden bullets that drop from the mould; in a rifle, 
 with powder stuffed behind them and fire applied, they are 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 477 
 
 an embodied force resistlessly pursuing their object. In 
 the search for words Mr. Lincoln was often at a loss. He 
 was often perplexed to give proper expression to his ideas ; 
 first, because he was not master of the English language ; 
 and secondly, because there were, in the vast store of 
 words, so few that contained the exact coloring, power, 
 and shape of his ideas. This will account for the frequent 
 resort by him to the use of stories, maxims, and jokes in 
 which to clothe his ideas, that they might be comprehended. 
 So true was this perculiar mental vision of his that, 
 though mankind has been gathering, arranging, and classi- 
 fying facts for thousands of years, Lincoln's peculiar 
 standpoint could give him no advantage over other men's 
 labor. Hence he tore down to their deepest foundations 
 all arrangements of facts, and constructed new ones to 
 govern himself. He was compelled from his peculiar 
 mental organization to do this. His labor was great and 
 continuous. 
 
 The truth about Mr. Lincoln is that he read less and 
 thought more than any man in his sphere in America. No 
 man can put his finger on any great book written in the last 
 or present century that he read thoroughly. When young 
 he read the Bible, and when of age he read Shakespeare ; 
 but, though he often quoted from both, he never read 
 either one through. He is acknowledged now to have been 
 a great man, but the question is what made him great. I 
 repeat, that he read less and thought more than any man 
 of his standing in America, if not in the world. He 
 possessed originality and power of thought in an eminent 
 degree. Besides his well established reputation for cau- 
 tion, he was concentrated in his thoughts and had great 
 continuity of reflection. In everything he was patient 
 and enduring. These are some of the grounds of his 
 wonderful success. 
 
 Not only were nature, man, and principle suggestive to 
 Mr. Lincoln, not only had he accurate and exact percep- 
 tions, but he was causative ; his mind, apparently with an 
 automatic movement, ran back behind facts, principles, and 
 all things to their origin and first cause — to that point 
 
47^ LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 where forces act at once as effect and cause. He would stop 
 in the street and analyze a machine. He would whittle a 
 thing to a point, and then count the numberless inclined 
 planes and their pitch making the point. Mastering and 
 defining this, he would then cut that point back and get a 
 broad transverse section of his pine-stick, and peel and de- 
 fine that. Clocks, omnibuses, language, paddle-wheels, and 
 idioms never escaped his observation and analysis. Before 
 he could form an idea of anything, before he would express 
 his opinion on a subject, he must know its origin and his- 
 tory in substance and quality, in magnitude and gravity. 
 He must know it inside and outside, upside and downside. 
 He searched and comprehended his own mind and nature 
 thoroughly, as I have often heard him say. He must ana- 
 lyze a sensation, an idea, and run back in its history to its 
 origin, and purpose. He was remorseless in his analysis 
 of facts and principles. When all these exhaustive proc- 
 esses had been gone through with he could form an idea 
 and express it; but no sooner. He had no faith, and no 
 respect for ''say so's," come though they might from tra- 
 dition or authority. Thus everything had to run through 
 the crucible, and be tested by the fires of his analytic mind ; 
 and when at last he did speak, his utterances rang out with 
 the clear and keen ring of gold upon the counters of the 
 understanding. He reasoned logically through analogy and 
 comparison. All opponents dreaded his originality of idea, 
 his condensation, definition, and force of expression; and 
 woe be to the man who hugged to his bosom a secret error 
 if Lincoln got on the chase of it. I repeat, woe to him ! 
 Time could hide the error in no nook or corner of space 
 in which he would not detect and expose it. 
 
 Though gifted with accurate and acute perception, 
 though a profound thinker as well as analyzer, still Lin- 
 coln's judgment on many and minor matters was often- 
 times childish. By the word judgment I do not mean what 
 mental philosophers would call the exercise of reason, will 
 — understanding ; but I use the term in its popular sense. I 
 refer to that capacity or power which decides on the fit- 
 ness, the harmony, or, if you will, the beauty and appro- 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 479 
 
 priateness of things. I have always thought, and 
 sometimes said, Lincoln lacked this quality in his mental 
 structure. He was on the alert if a principle was involved 
 or a man's rights at stake in a transaction; but he never 
 could see the harm in wearing a sack-coat instead of a 
 swallowtail to an evening party, nor could he realize the 
 offense of telling a vulgar yarn if a preacher happened to 
 be present. 
 
 Sometime in 1857 a lady reader or elocutionist came to 
 Springfield and gave a public reading in a hall immediately 
 north of the State House. As lady lecturers were then 
 rare birds, a very large crowd greeted her. Among other 
 things she recited "Nothing to Wear," a piece in which is 
 described the perplexities that beset "Miss Flora McFlim- 
 sey" in her efforts to appear fashionable. In the midst of 
 one stanza, in which no effort is made to say anything 
 particularly amusing, and during the reading of which the 
 audience manifested the most respectful silence and atten- 
 tion, some one in the rear seats burst out into a loud, coarse 
 laugh — a sudden and explosive guffaw. It startled the 
 speaker and audience, and kindled a storm of unsuppressed 
 laughter and applause. Everyone looked back to ascertain 
 the cause of the demonstration, and was greatly surprised 
 to find that it was Mr. Lincoln. He blushed and squirmed 
 with the awkward diffidence of a schoolboy. What 
 prompted him to laugh no one was able to explain. He 
 was doubtless wrapped up in a brown study, and, recall- 
 ing some amusing episode, indulged in laughter without 
 realizing his surroundings. The experience mortified him 
 greatly. 5 
 
 As already expressed, Mr. Lincoln had no faith. In 
 order to believe, he must see and feel, and thrust his 
 hand into the place. He must taste, smell, and handle 
 before he had faith or even belief. Such a mind manifestly 
 must have its time. His forte and power lay in digging 
 out for himself and securing for his mind its own food, to 
 be assimilated unto itself. Thus, in time he would form 
 opinions and conclusions that no human power could over- 
 5 Original footnote. 
 
480 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 throw. They were as irresistible as the rush of a flood ; as 
 convincing as logic embodied in mathematics. And yet 
 the question arises: "Had Mr. Lincoln great, good com- 
 mon-sense ?" A variety of opinions suggest themselves 
 in answer to this. If the true test is that a man shall 
 judge the rush and whirl of human actions and transac- 
 tions as wisely and accurately as though indefinite time 
 and proper conditions were at his disposal, then I am com- 
 pelled to follow the logic of things and admit that he had 
 no great stock of common sense ; but if, on the other hand, 
 the time and conditions were ripe, his common-sense was 
 in every case equal to the emergency. He knew himself, 
 and never trusted his dollar or his fame in casual opin- 
 ions — never acted hastily or prematurely on great matters. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln believed that the great leading law of hu- 
 man nature is motive. He reasoned all ideas of a disinter- 
 ested action out of my mind. I used to hold that an 
 action could be pure, disinterested, and wholly free from 
 selfishness ; but he divested me of that delusion. His idea 
 was that all human actions were caused by motives, and 
 that at the bottom of these motives was self. He defied me 
 to act without motive and unselfishly ; and when I did the 
 act and told him of it, he analyzed and sifted it to the last 
 grain. After he had concluded, I could not avoid the ad- 
 mission that he had demonstrated the absolute selfishness 
 of the entire act. Although a profound analyzer of the 
 laws of human nature he could form no just construction 
 of the motives of the particular individual. He knew but 
 little of the play of the features as seen in the "human 
 face divine." He could not distinguish between the pale- 
 ness of anger and the crimson tint of modesty. In deter- 
 mining what each play of the features indicated he was 
 pitiably weak. 
 
 The great predominating elements of Mr. Lincoln's 
 peculiar character were : first, his great capacity and power 
 of reason ; second, his conscience and his excellent under- 
 standing; third, an exalted idea of the sense of right and 
 equity; fourth, his intense veneration of the true and the 
 good. His conscience, his heart and all the faculties and 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 481 
 
 qualities of his mind bowed submissively to the despotism 
 of his reason. He lived and acted from the standard of 
 reason — that throne of logic, home of principle — the realm 
 of Deity in man. It is from this point Mr. Lincoln must 
 be viewed. Not only was he cautious, patient, and endur- 
 ing ; not only had he concentration and great continuity of 
 thought; but he had profound analytical power. His 
 vision was clear, and he was emphatically the master of 
 statement. His pursuit of the truth, as before mentioned, 
 was indefatigable. He reasoned from well-chosen prin- 
 ciples with such clearness, force, and directness that the 
 tallest intellects in the land bowed to him. He was the 
 strongest man I ever saw, looking at him from the ele- 
 vated standpoint of reason and logic. He came down from 
 that height with irresistible and crashing force. His 
 Cooper Institute and other printed speeches will prove this ; 
 but his speeches before the courts — especially the Supreme 
 Court of Illinois — if they had been preserved, would 
 demonstrate it still more plainly. Here he demanded time 
 to think and prepare. The office of reason is to determine 
 the truth. Truth is the power of reason, and Lincoln 
 loved truth for its own sake. It was to him reason's food. 
 
 Conscience, the second great quality of Mr. Lincoln's 
 character, is that faculty which induces in us love of the 
 just. Its real office is justice; right and equity are its 
 correlatives. As a court, it is in session continuously; it 
 decides all acts at all times. Mr. Lincoln had a deep, 
 broad, living conscience. His reason, however, was the 
 real judge; it told him what was true or false, and there- 
 fore good or bad, right or wrong, just or unjust, and his 
 conscience echoed back the decision. His conscience ruled 
 his heart; he was always just before he was generous. 
 It cannot be said of any mortal that he was always abso- 
 lutely just. Neither was Lincoln always just; but his 
 general life was. It follows that if Mr. Lincoln had great 
 reason and great conscience he must have been an honest 
 man; and so he was. He was rightfully entitled to the 
 appellation "Honest Abe/' Honesty was his polar star. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln also had a good understanding ; that is, the 
 
482 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 faculty that comprehends the exact state of things and 
 determines their relations, near or remote. The under- 
 standing does not necessarily inquire for the reason of 
 things. While Lincoln was odd and original, while he 
 lived out of himself and by himself, and while he could 
 absorb but little from others, yet a reading of his speeches, 
 messages, and letters satisfies us that he had good under- 
 standing. But the strongest point in his make-up was the 
 knowledge he had of himself ; he comprehended and under- 
 stood his own capacity — what he did and why he did it — 
 better perhaps than any man of his day. He had a wider 
 and deeper comprehension of his environments, of the 
 political conditions especially, than men who were more 
 learned or had had the benefits of a more thorough train- 
 ing. 
 
 He was a very sensitive man, — modest to the point of 
 diffidence, — and often hid himself in the masses to prevent 
 the discovery of his identity. He was not indifferent, how- 
 ever, to approbation and public opinion. He had no dis- 
 gusting egotism and no pompous pride, no aristocracy, no 
 haughtiness, no vanity. Merging together the qualities of 
 his nature he was a meek, quiet, unobtrusive gentleman. 
 
 As many contradictory opinions prevail in reference to 
 Mr. Lincoln's heart and humanity as on the question of 
 his judgment. As many persons perhaps contend that he 
 was cold and obdurate as that he was warm and affection- 
 ate. The first thing the world met in contact with him was 
 his head and conscience ; after that he exposed the tender 
 side of his nature — his heart, subject at all times to his 
 exalted sense of right and equity, namely his conscience. 
 In proportion as he held his conscience subject to his head, 
 he held his heart subject to his head and conscience. His 
 humanity had to defer to his sense of justice and the 
 eternal right. His heart was the lowest of these organs, 
 if we may call them such — the weakest of the three. Some 
 men have reversed this order and characterized his heart 
 as his ruling organ. This estimate of Mr. Lincoln endows 
 him with love regardless of truth, justice, and right. The 
 question still is, was Lincoln cold and heartless, or warm 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 483 
 
 and affectionate? Can a man be all heart, all head, and 
 all conscience? Some of these are masters over the others, 
 some will be dominant, ruling with imperial sway, and thus 
 giving character to the man. What, in the first place, do 
 we mean by a warm-hearted man ? Is it one who goes out 
 of himself and reaches for others spontaneously, seeking 
 to correct some abuse to mankind because of a deep love 
 for humanity, apart from equity and truth, and who does 
 what he does for love's sake? If so, Mr. Lincoln was a 
 cold man. If a man, woman, or child approached him, and 
 the prayer of such a one was granted, that itself was not 
 evidence of his love. The African was enslaved and de- 
 prived of this right; a principle was violated in doing so. 
 Rights imply obligations as well as duties. Mr. Lincoln 
 was President ; he was in a position that made it his duty, 
 through his sense of right, his love of principle, the con- 
 stitutional obligations imposed upon him by the oath of 
 office, to strike the blow against slavery. But did he do it 
 for love ? He has himself answered the question : "I would 
 not free the slaves if I could preserve the Union without 
 it." When he freed the slaves there was no heart in the 
 act. This argument can be used against his too enthusiastic 
 friends. 
 
 In general terms his life was cold — at least characterized 
 by what many persons would deem great indifference. He 
 had, however, a strong latent capacity to love : but the ob- 
 ject must first come in the guise of a principle, next it must 
 be right and true — then it was lovely in his sight. He loved 
 humanity when it was oppressed — an abstract love as 
 against the concrete love centred in an individual. He 
 rarely used terms of endearment, and yet he was proverb- 
 ially tender and gentle. He gave the key-note to his own 
 character when he said : "With malice towards none, with 
 charity for all." In proportion to his want of deep, in- 
 tense love he had no hate and bore no malice. His charity 
 for an imperfect man was as broad as his devotion to prin- 
 ciple was enduring. 
 
 "But was not Mr. Lincoln a man of great humanity?" 
 asks a friend at my elbow ; to which I reply, "Has not that 
 
484 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 question been answered already ?" Let us suppose it has 
 not. We must understand each other. What is meant by 
 his humanity? Is it meant that he had much of human 
 nature in him? If so, I grant that he was a man of hu- 
 manity. If, in the event of the above definition being 
 unsatisfactory or untrue, it is meant that he was tender and 
 kind, then I again agree. But if the inference is that he 
 would sacrifice truth or right in the slightest degree for 
 the love of a friend, then he was neither tender nor kind ; 
 nor did he have any humanity. The law of human nature 
 is such that it cannot be all head, all conscience, and all 
 heart in one person at the same time. Our maker so con- 
 stituted things that, where God through reason blazed the 
 way, we might boldly walk therein. The glory of Mr. 
 Lincoln's power lay in the just and magnificent equipoise 
 of head, conscience, and heart; and here his fame must 
 rest or not at all. 
 
 Not only were Mr. Lincoln's perceptions good ; not only 
 was nature suggestive to him ; not only was he original and 
 strong ; not only had he great reason, good understanding ; 
 not only did he love the true and the good — the eternal 
 right; not only was he tender and sympathetic and kind; 
 — but, in due proportion and in legitimate subordination, 
 he had a glorious combination of them all. Through his 
 perceptions — the suggestiveness of nature, his originality 
 and strength; through his magnificent reason, his under- 
 standing, his conscience, his tenderness, quick sympathy, 
 his heart ; he approximated as nearly as human nature and 
 the imperfections of man would permit to an embodiment 
 of the great moral principle, "Do unto others as ye would 
 they should do unto you." 
 
 Of Mr. Lincoln's will-power there are two opinions 
 also: one that he lacked any will; the other that he was 
 all will. Both these contradictory views have their ve- 
 hement and honest champions. For the great underlying 
 principles of mind in man he had great respect. He loved 
 the true first, the right second, and the good last. His 
 mind struggled for truth, and his soul reached out for 
 substances. He cared not for forms, ways, methods — 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 485 
 
 the non-substantial things of this world. He could not, 
 by reason of his structure and mental organization, care 
 anything about them. He did not have an intense care 
 for any particular or individual man — the dollars, property, 
 rank, orders, manners, or similar things ; neither did he 
 have any avarice or other like vice in his nature. He 
 detested somewhat all technical rules in law, philosophy, 
 and other sciences — mere forms everywhere — because they 
 were, as a general thing, founded on arbitrary thoughts 
 and ideas, and not on reason, truth, and the right. These 
 things seemed to him lacking in substance, and he disre- 
 garded them because they cramped the originality of his 
 genius. What suited a little narrow, critical mind did 
 not suit Mr. Lincoln any more than a child's clothes would 
 fit his father's body. Generally he took no interest in town 
 affairs or local elections ; he attended no meetings that per- 
 tained to local interests. He did not care — because by rea- 
 son of his nature he could not — who succeeded to the 
 presidency of this or that society or railroad company; 
 who made the most money; who was going to Philadel- 
 phia, and what were the costs of such a trip ; who was 
 going to be married ; who among his friends got this of- 
 fice or that — who was elected street commissioner or 
 health inspector. No principle of truth, right, or justice 
 being involved in any of these things he could not be 
 moved by them. 8 He could not understand why men strug- 
 gled so desperately for the little glory or lesser salary the 
 small offices afforded. He made this remark to me one 
 day in Washington : "If ever this free people — this Gov- 
 
 6 "A bitter, maligant fool," wrote Herndon in a footnote to 
 this sentence, "who always had opposed Lincoln and his friends, 
 and had lost no opportunity to abuse them, induced Lincoln to 
 go to the Governor of Illinois and recommend him for an im- 
 portant office in the State Militia. There being no principle at 
 stake Lincoln did not refuse the request. When his friends heard 
 of it they were furious in their denunciation of his action. It 
 mortified him greatly to learn that he had displeased them. 'And 
 yet/ he said, a few days later, dwelling on the matter to me in 
 the office, 'I couldn't well refuse the little the fellow asked of me. 
 Sometimes I feel,' he added dryly, 'that it's a good thing I 
 wasn't born a woman'." 
 
486 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 ernment — is utterly demoralized, it will come from this 
 human struggle for office — a way to live without work." 
 It puzzled him a good deal, he said, to get at the root of 
 this dreaded disease, which spread like contagion during the 
 nation's death struggle. 
 
 Because he could not feel a deep interest in the things 
 referred to, nor manifest the same interest in those who 
 were engaged in the popular scramble, he was called in- 
 different — nay, ungrateful — to his friends. This estimate 
 of the man was a very unjust as well as unfair one. Mr. 
 Lincoln loved his friends with commendable loyalty; in 
 many cases he clung to them tenaciously, like iron to iron 
 welded ; and yet, because he could not be actively aroused, 
 nor enter into the spirit of their anxiety for office, he was 
 called ungrateful. But he was not so. He may have 
 seemed passive and lacking in interest; he may not have 
 measured his friendly duties by the applicant's hot desire ; 
 but yet he was never ungrateful. Neither was he a selfish 
 man. He would never have performed an act, even to 
 promote himself to the Presidency, if by that act any 
 human being was wronged. If it is said that he preferred 
 Abraham Lincoln to anyone else in the pursuit of his am- 
 bition, and that because of this he was a selfish man, then 
 I can see no impropriety in the charge. Under the same 
 conditions we should all be equally guilty. 
 
 Remembering that Mr. Lincoln's mind moved logically, 
 slowly, and cautiously, the question of his will and its 
 power is easily solved. Although he cared but little for 
 simple facts, rules, and methods, he did care for the truth 
 and right of principle. In debate he courteously granted 
 all the forms and non-essential things to his opponent. 
 Sometimes he yielded nine points out of ten. The nine he 
 brushed aside as husks or rubbish ; but the tenth, being a 
 question of substance, he clung to with all his might. On 
 the underlying principles of truth and justice his will was 
 as firm as steel and as tenacious as iron. It was as solid, 
 real, and vital as an idea on which the world turns. He 
 scorned to support or adopt an untrue position, in pro- 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 487 
 
 portion as his conscience prevented him from doing an 
 unjust thing. Ask him to sacrifice in the slightest degree 
 his convictions of truth 7 — as he was asked to do when he 
 made his "house-divided-against-itself speech' ' — and his 
 soul would have exclaimed with indignant scorn, "The 
 world perish first !" 
 
 Such was Lincoln's will. Because on one line of ques- 
 tions — the non-essential— he was pliable, and on the other 
 he was as immovable as the rocks, have arisen the contra- 
 dictory notions prevalent regarding him. It only remains 
 to say that he was inflexible and unbending in human 
 transactions when it was necessary to be so, and not other- 
 wise. At one moment he was pliable and expansive as 
 gentle air; at the next as tenacious and unyielding as 
 gravity itself. 
 
 Thus I have traced Mr. Lincoln through his perceptions, 
 his suggestiveness, his judgment, and his four predomi- 
 nant qualities : power of reason, understanding, conscience, 
 and heart. In the grand review of his peculiar character- 
 istics, nothing creates such an impressive effect as his love 
 of the truth. It looms up over everything else. His life 
 is proof of the assertion that he never yielded in his funda- 
 mental conception of truth to any man for any end. 
 
 All the follies and wrong Mr. Lincoln ever fell into or 
 committed sprang out of these weak points: the want of 
 intuitive judgment; the lack of quick, sagacious knowl- 
 edge of the play and meaning of men's features as writ- 
 ten on the face; the want of the sense of propriety of 
 things; his tenderness and mercy; and lastly, his unsus- 
 pecting nature. He was deeply and sincerely honest him- 
 
 7 Robert Dale Owen wrote Herndon on January 22, 1867: 
 "Again, Mr. Lincoln seems to me too true and honest a man 
 to have his eulogy written, and I have no taste for writing 
 eulogies. I am sure that, if he were alive, he would feel that 
 the exact truth regarding himself was far more worthy of him- 
 self and of his biographer than any flattering picture. I loved 
 the man as he was, with his rugged features, his coarse, rebellious 
 hair, his sad, dreamy eyes ; and I love to see him, and I hope to 
 described him, as he was, and not otherwise." 
 
488 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 self, and assumed that others were so. He never suspected 
 men ; and hence in dealing with them he was easily imposed 
 upon. 
 
 All the wise and good things Mr. Lincoln ever did 
 sprang out of his great reason, his conscience, his under- 
 standing, his heart, his love of the truth, the right, and the 
 good. I am speaking now of his particular and individual 
 faculties and qualities, not of their combination or the re- 
 sult of any combinations. Run out these qualities and 
 faculties abstractly, and see what they produce. For in- 
 stance, a tender heart, a strong reason, a broad under- 
 standing, an exalted conscience, a love of the true and the 
 good must, proportioned reasonably and applied prac- 
 tically, produce a man of great power and great humanity. 
 
 As illustrative of a combination in Mr. Lincoln's or- 
 ganization, it may be said that his eloquence lay in the 
 strength of his logical faculty, his supreme power of 
 reasoning, his great understanding, and his love of prin- 
 ciple ; in his clear and accurate vision ; in his cool and 
 masterly statement of principles around which the issues 
 gather ; and in the statement of those issues and the group- 
 ing of the facts that are to carry conviction to the minds 
 of men of every grade of intelligence. He was so clear 
 that he could not be misunderstood or long misrepre- 
 sented. He stood square and bolt upright to his convic- 
 tions, and anyone who listened to him would be convinced 
 that he formed his thoughts and utterances by them. His 
 mind was not exactly a wide, broad, generalizing, and 
 comprehensive mind, nor yet a versatile, quick, and subtle 
 one, bounding here and there as emergencies demanded ; 
 but it was deep, enduring, strong, like a majestic ma- 
 chine running in deep iron grooves with heavy flanges on 
 its wheels. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln himself was a very sensitive man, and 
 hence, in dealing with others, he avoided wounding their 
 hearts or puncturing their sensibility. He was unusually 
 considerate of the feelings of other men, regardless of 
 their rank, condition, or station. At first sight he struck 
 one with his plainness, simplicity of manner, sincerity, 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 489 
 
 candor, and truthfulness. He had no double interests and 
 no overwhelming dignity with which to chill the air around 
 his visitor. He was always easy to approach and thor- 
 oughly democratic. He seemed to throw a charm around 
 every man who ever met him. To be in his presence was 
 a pleasure, and no man ever left his company with injured 
 feelings unless most richly deserved. 
 
 The universal testimony, "He is an honest man," gave 
 him a firm hold on the masses, and they trusted him with 
 a blind religious faith. His sad, melancholy face excited 
 their sympathy, and when the dark days came it was their 
 heart-strings that entwined and sustained him. Sympathy, 
 we are told, is one of the strongest and noblest incentives 
 to human action. With the sympathy and love of the peo- 
 ple to sustain him, Lincoln had unlimited power over 
 them; he threw an invisible and weightless harness over 
 them, and drove them through disaster and desperation 
 to final victory. The trust and worship by the people of 
 Lincoln were the result of his simple character. He held 
 himself not aloof from the masses. He became one of 
 them. They feared together, they struggled together, they 
 hoped together; thus melted and moulded into one, they 
 became one in thought, one in will, one in action. If Lin- 
 coln cautiously awaited the full development of the last 
 fact in the great drama before he acted, when longer wait- 
 ing would be a crime, he knew that the people were deter- 
 minedly at his back. Thus, when a blow was struck, it 
 came with the unerring aim and power of a bolt from 
 heaven. A natural king — not ruling men, but leading 
 them along the drifts and trends of their own tendencies, 
 always keeping in mind the consent of the governed, he 
 developed what the future historian will call the sublim- 
 est order of conservative statesmanship. 
 
 Whatever of life, vigor, force, and power of eloquence 
 his peculiar qualities gave him; whatever there was in a 
 fair, manly, honest, and impartial administration of jus- 
 tice under law to all men at all times ; whatever there was 
 in a strong will in the right governed by tenderness and 
 mercy; whatever there was in toil and sublime patience; 
 
49° LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 whatever there was in these things or a wise combination 
 of them, Lincoln is justly entitled to in making up the 
 impartial verdict of history. These limit and define him 
 as a statesman, as an orator, as an executive of the na- 
 tion, and as a man. They developed in all the walks of 
 his life; they were his law; they were his nature, they 
 were Abraham Lincoln. 
 
 This long, bony, sad man floated down the Sangamon 
 River in a frail canoe in the spring of 1831. Like a piece 
 of driftwood he lodged at last, without a history, strange, 
 penniless, and alone. In sight of the capital of Illinois, 
 in the fatigue of daily toil he struggled for the necessaries 
 of life. Thirty years later this same peculiar man left 
 the Sangamon River, backed by friends, by power, by the 
 patriotic prayers of millions of people, to be the ruler of 
 the greatest nation in the world. 
 
 As the leader of a brave people in their desperate strug- 
 gle for national existence, Abraham Lincoln will always 
 be an interesting historical character. His strong, honest, 
 sagacious, and noble life will always possess a peculiar 
 charm. Had it not been for his conservative statesman- 
 ship, his supreme confidence in the wisdom of the people, 
 his extreme care in groping his way among facts and 
 before ideas, this nation might have been two governments 
 today. The low and feeble circulation of his blood; his 
 healthful irritability, which responded so slowly to the 
 effects of stimuli ; the strength of his herculean frame ; 
 his peculiar organism, conserving its force; his sublime 
 patience; his wonderful endurance; his great hand and 
 heart, saved this country from division, when division 
 meant its irreparable ruin. 
 
 The central figure of our national history, the sublime 
 type of our civilization, posterity, with the record of his 
 career and actions before it, will decree that, whether 
 Providence so ordained it or not, Abraham Lincoln was 
 the man for the hour. 
 
 THE END. 
 
N D I X 
 
 [About half of the Appendix to the original edition of 
 Herndon's Lincoln consisted of letters then unpublished but 
 now accessible in the standard collections of Lincoln's writ- 
 ings. These are omitted here. The other material is retained 
 exactly as it first appeared. P.M.A.] 
 
 AN INCIDENT ON THE CIRCUIT 
 
 "In the spring term of the Tazewell County Court in 1847, 
 which at that time was held in the village of Tremont, I was 
 detained as a witness an entire week. Lincoln was employed 
 in several suits, and among them was one of Case vs. Snow 
 Bros. The Snow Bros., as appeared in evidence (who were 
 both minors), had purchased from an old Mr. Case what was 
 then called a "prairie team/' consisting of two or three yoke ot 
 oxen and prairie plow, giving therefor their joint note for 
 some two hundred dollars; but when pay-day came refused to 
 pay, pleading the minor act. The note was placed in Lincoln's 
 hands for collection. The suit was called and a jury im- 
 panelled. The Snow Bros, did not deny the note, but pleaded 
 through their counsel that they were minors, and that Mr. 
 Case knew they were at the time of the contract and convey- 
 ance. All this was admitted by Mr. Lincoln, with his peculiar 
 phrase, 'Yes, gentlemen, I reckon that's so/ The minor act 
 was read and its validity admitted in the same manner. The 
 counsel of the defendants were permitted without question to 
 state all these things to the jury, and to show by the statute 
 that these minors could not be held responsible for their con- 
 tract. By this time you may well suppose that I began to be 
 uneasy. 'What!' thought I, 'this good old man, who con- 
 fided in these boys, to be wronged in this way, and even his 
 counsel, Mr. Lincoln, to submit in silence !' I looked at the 
 Court, Judge Treat, but could read nothing in his calm and dig- 
 
49^ LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 nified demeanor. Just then, Mr. Lincoln slowly got up, and in 
 his strange, half-erect attitude and clear, quiet accent began: 
 'Gentlemen of the Jury, are you willing to allow these boys to 
 begin life with this shame and disgrace attached to their char- 
 acter? If you are, / am not. The best judge of human char- 
 acter that ever wrote has left these immortal words for all of 
 us to ponder: 
 
 "Good name in man or woman, dear my lord, 
 Is the immediate jewel of their souls: 
 
 Who steals my purse steals trash ; 'tis something, nothing ; 
 'Twas mine, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands; 
 But he that filches from me my good name 
 Robs me of that which not enriches him 
 And makes me poor indeed." ' 
 
 'Then rising to his full height, and looking upon the defend- 
 ants with the compassion of a brother, his long right arm ex- 
 tended toward the opposing counsel, he continued: 'Gentle- 
 men of the jury, these poor innocent boys would never have 
 attempted this low villainy had it not been for the advice of 
 these lawyers/ Then for a few minutes he showed how even 
 the noble science of law may be prostituted. With a scathing 
 rebuke to those who thus belittle their profession, he con- 
 cluded: 'And now, gentlemen, you have it in your power to 
 set these boys right before the world.' He plead for the 
 young men only ; I think he did not mention his client's name. 
 The jury, without leaving their seats, decided that the de- 
 fendants must pay the debt; and the latter, after hearing 
 Lincoln, were as willing to pay it as the jury were determined 
 they should. I think the entire argument lasted not above five 
 minutes." — George W. Minier, statement, Apr. 10, 1882. 
 
 LINCOLN'S FELLOW LAWYERS 
 
 Among Lincoln's colleagues at the Springfield bar, after his 
 re-entry into politics in 1854, and until his elevation to the 
 Presidency, were, John T. Stuart, Stephen T. Logan, John A. 
 McClernand, Benjamin S. Edwards, David Logan, E. B. 
 Herndon, W. J. Ferguson, James H. Matheny, C. C. Brown, 
 N. M. Broadwell, Charles W. Keyes, John E. Rosette, C. S. 
 Zane, J. C. Conkling, Shelby M. Cullom, and G. M. Shutt. 
 There were others, notably John M. Palmer and Richard J. 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 493 
 
 Oglesby, who came in occasionally from other counties and 
 tried suits with and against us, but they never became mem- 
 bers of our bar, strictly speaking, till after the war had closed. 
 — W. H. H. 
 
 THE TRUCE WITH DOUGLAS.— TESTIMONY OF 
 IRWIN 
 
 "The conversation took place in the office of Lincoln & 
 Herndon, in the presence of P. L. Harrison, William H. Hern- 
 don, Pascal Enos, and myself. It originated in this way : 
 After the debate at Springfield on the 4th and Sth of October, 
 1854, William Jayne, John Cassiday, Pascal Enos, the writer, 
 and others whose names I do not now remember, filled out and 
 signed a written request to Lincoln to follow Douglas until he 
 'ran him into his hole' or made him halloo 'Enough/ and that 
 day Lincoln was giving in his report. He said that the next 
 morning after the Peoria debate Douglas came to him and 
 flattered him that he knew more on the question of Territorial 
 organization in this government than all the Senate of the 
 United States, and called his mind to the trouble the latter had 
 given him. He added that Lincoln had already given him 
 more trouble than all the opposition in the Senate, and then 
 proposed to Lincoln that if he (Lincoln) would go home and 
 not follow him, he (Douglas) would go to no more of his ap- 
 pointments, would make no more speeches, and would go home 
 and remain silent during the rest of the campaign. Lincoln 
 did not make another speech till after the election." — B. F. 
 Irwin, statement, Feb. 8, 1866, unpublished MS. 
 
 THE BLOOMINGTON CONVENTION 
 
 Following is a copy of the call to select delegates to the 
 Bloomington Convention held May 29, 1856, when the Re- 
 publican party in Illinois came into existence. It will be re- 
 membered that I signed Lincoln's name under instructions 
 from him by telegraph. The original document I gave several 
 years ago to a friend in Boston, Mass. : 
 
 "We, the undersigned, citizens of Sangamon County, who 
 are opposed to the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, and the 
 present administration, and who are in favor of restoring to 
 
494 LIFE 0F LINCOLN 
 
 the general government the policy of Washington and Jefferson, 
 would suggest the propriety of a County Convention, to be held 
 in the city of Springfield on Saturday, the 24th day of May, 
 at 2 o'clock, P. M., to appoint delegates to the Bloomington 
 Convention. 
 
 "A. Lincoln, 
 
 "W. H. Herndon and others." 
 
 The decided stand Lincoln took in this instance, and his 
 speech in the Convention, undoubtedly paved the way for his 
 leadership in the Republican party. — W. H. H. 
 
 AN OFFICE DISCUSSION— LINCOLN'S IDEA 
 OF WAR 
 
 One morning in 1859, Lincoln and I, impressed with the 
 probability of war between the two sections of the country, 
 were discussing the subject in the office. "The position taken 
 by the advocates of State Sovereignty," remarked Lincoln, "al- 
 ways reminds me of the fellow who contended that the proper 
 place for the big kettle was inside of the little one." To me, 
 war seemed inevitable, but when I came to view the matter 
 squarely, I feared a difficulty the North would have in con- 
 trolling the various classes of people and shades of senti- 
 ment, so as to make them an effective force in case of war : 
 I feared the lack of some great head and heart to lead us on- 
 ward. Lincoln had great confidence in the masses, believing 
 that, when they were brought face to face with the reality of 
 the conflict, all differences would disappear, and that they 
 would be merged into one. To illustrate his idea he made use 
 of this figure : "Go to the river bank with a coarse sieve and 
 fill it with gravel. After a vigorous shaking you will observe 
 that the small pebbles and sand have sunk from view and 
 fallen to the ground. The next larger in size, unable to slip 
 between the wires, will still be found within the sieve. By 
 thorough and repeated shakings you will find that, of the 
 pebbles still left in the sieve, the largest ones will have risen 
 to the top. Now," he continued, "if, as you say, war is in- 
 evitable and will shake the country from centre to circumfer- 
 ence, you will find that the little men will fall out of view in 
 the shaking. The masses will rest on some solid foundation, 
 and the big men will have climbed to the top. Of these latter, 
 one greater than all the rest will leap forth armed and equipped 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 495 
 
 — the people's leader in the conflict." Little did I realize 
 the strength of the masses when united and fighting for a 
 common purpose; and much less did I dream that the great 
 leader soon to be tried was at that very moment touching my 
 elbow !— W. H. H. 
 
 LINCOLN'S VIEWS ON THE RIGHTS OF SUFFRAGE 
 
 At one time, while holding the office of attorney for the city 
 of Springfield, I had a case in the Supreme Court, which in- 
 volved the validity or constitutionality of a law regulating the 
 matter of voting. Although a city case, it really abridged the 
 right of suffrage. Being Lincoln's partner I wanted him to 
 assist me in arguing the questions involved. He declined to 
 do so, saying: "I am opposed to the limitation or lessening 
 of the right of suffrage; if anything, I am in favor of its ex- 
 tension or enlargement. I want to lift men up — to broaden 
 rather than contract their privileges." — W. H. H. 
 
 THE BURIAL OF THE ASSASSIN BOOTH 
 
 "Upon reaching Washington with the body of Booth — hav- 
 ing come up the Potomac — it was at once removed from the 
 tug-boat to a gun-boat that lay at the dock at the Navy Yard, 
 where it remained about thirty-six hours. It was there ex- 
 amined by the Surgeon-General and staff and other officers, 
 and identified by half a score of persons who had known him 
 well. Toward evening of the second day Gen. L. C. Baker, 
 then chief of the 'Detective Bureau of the War Department/ 
 received orders from Secretary of War Stanton to dispose of 
 the body. Stanton said, Tut it where it will not be disturbed 
 until Gabriel blows his last trumpet/ I was ordered to assist 
 him. The body was placed in a row-boat, and taking with us 
 one trusty man to manage the boat, we quietly floated down the 
 river. Crowds of people all along the shore were watching 
 us. For a blind we took with us a heavy ball and chain, and 
 it was soon going from lip to lip that we were about to sink 
 the body in the Potomac. Darkness soon came on, completely 
 concealing our movements, and under its cover we pulled 
 slowly back to the old Penitentiary, which during the war was 
 used as an arsenal. The body was then lifted from the boat 
 
496 LIFE OF LINCOLN 
 
 and carried through a door opening on the river front. Under 
 the stone floor of what had been a prison cell a shallow grave 
 was dug, and the body, with the United States blanket for a 
 'winding-sheet/ was there interred. There also it remained 
 till Booth's accomplices were hanged. It was then taken up 
 and buried with his companions in crime. I have since learned 
 that the remains were again disinterred and given to his 
 friends, and that they now rest in the family burial-place in 
 Baltimore, Md." — From MS. of L. B. Baker, late Lieut, and 
 A.Q.M. 1st D. C. Cav. 
 
 A TRIBUTE TO LINCOLN BY A COLLEAGUE AT 
 THE BAR 
 
 "The weird and melancholy association of eloquence and 
 poetry had a strong fascination for Mr. Lincoln's mind. 
 Tasteful composition, either of prose or poetry, which faith- 
 fully contrasted the realities of eternity with the unstable and 
 fickle fortunes of time, made a strong impression on his mind. 
 In the indulgence of this melancholy taste it is related of him 
 that the poem, 'Immortality/ he knew by rote and appreciated 
 very highly. He had a strange liking for the verses, and they 
 bear a just resemblance to his fortune. Mr. Lincoln, at the 
 time of his assassination, was encircled by a halo of immortal 
 glory such as had never before graced the brow of mortal man. 
 He had driven treason from its capital city, had slept in the 
 palace of its once proud and defiant, but now vanquished 
 leader, and had saved his country and its accrued glories of 
 three-quarters of a century from destruction. He rode, not 
 with the haughty and imperious brow of an ancient conqueror, 
 but with the placid complacency of a pure patriot, through the 
 streets of the political Babylon of modern times. He had 
 ridden over battlefields immortal in history, when, in power 
 at least, he was the leader. Having assured the misguided 
 citizens of the South that he meant them no harm beyond a 
 determination to maintain the government, he returned buoyant 
 with hope to the Executive Mansion where for four long years 
 he had been held, as it were, a prisoner. 
 
 "Weary with the stories of state, he goes to seek the relaxa- 
 tion of amusement at the theatre; sees the gay crowd as he 
 passes in; is cheered and graciously smiled upon by fair 
 women and brave men ; beholds the gorgeous paraphernalia of 
 
LIFE OF LINCOLN 497 
 
 the stage, the brilliantly lighted scene, the arched ceiling, with 
 its grotesque and inimitable figuring to heighten the effect and 
 make the occasion one of unalloyed pleasure. The hearts of 
 the people beat in unison with his over a redeemed and ran- 
 somed land. A pause in the play — a faint pistol shot is 
 heard. No one knows its significance save the hellish few who 
 are in the plot. A wild shriek, such as murder wrings from 
 the heart of woman, follows : the proud form of Mr. Lincoln 
 has sunk in death. The scene is changed to a wild confusion 
 such as no poet can describe, no painter delineate. Well might 
 the murdered have said and oft repeated: 
 
 * 'Tis the wink of an eye, 'tis the draught of a breath, 
 From the blossom of health to the paleness of death, 
 From the gilded saloon to the bier and the shroud, — 
 Oh, why should the spirit of mortal be proud?' " 
 
 [From a speech by Hon. Lawrence Weldon, at a bar-meeting 
 held in the United States Court at Springfield, III., in lune, 1865.] 
 
INDEX 
 
 Able, Mrs. Bennett, 116 
 
 Abolitionism, Herndon and, xviii, 
 150, 292; in Illinois legislature, 
 143. See also Slavery 
 
 Abraham Lincoln Association, The, x 
 
 Adam and Eve's Wedding Song, 43 
 
 Adams, John Quincy, 220 
 
 Addams, John H., 303 
 
 ^sop's Fables, 36, 39 
 
 Alabama, The, 452 
 
 Albany, 396 
 
 Allen, G. T., 306 
 
 Allen, Robert, 135 
 
 Alton, debate, 328 
 
 Alton Courier, 313 
 
 Anderson, Robert, 82, 453 
 
 Anti-Slavery Standard, 293 
 
 Armstrong, Hannah, 288, 389 
 
 Armstrong, Jack, 69, 70 
 
 Arnold, Isaac Newton, 289; aided 
 by Herndon, xxvii; on Anne Rut- 
 ledge story, 105 
 
 Arnold, Samuel, 462 
 
 Asbury, Henry, 338 
 
 Ashley, James Mitchell, 45 In. 
 
 Ashmun, George, 224; notifies Lin- 
 coln of nomination, 374, 376 
 
 Atlantic Monthly, xxxv 
 
 Atzerodt, George A. (J. W.), 462, 
 464 
 
 Baker, Edward Dickinson, 210, 211, 
 241n.; practices law in Springfield, 
 149; frequents Speed's store, 150; 
 in debate, 154; defended by Lin- 
 coln, 158; defeats Lincoln for 
 nomination, 212-14; defeated by 
 Hardin, 214; in Congress, 215; 
 withdraws from contest, 216; in 
 Mexican War, 219; agreement 
 with Lincoln on patronage, 242; 
 introduces Lincoln, 399 
 
 Baker, Henry L., 306 
 
 Baker, L. B., 463, 496 
 
 Baker, Lafayette C., 463, 495 
 
 Bale, Mrs. Hardin, describes Anne 
 Rutledge, 107, Mary Owens, 117 
 
 Baltimore, 397 
 
 Bancroft, George, 444n.; lecture, 
 363; eulogy disliked by Lincoln's 
 friends, 417 
 
 Banks, Nathaniel Prentiss, 323 
 
 Barrett, Doctor, 103 
 
 Barrett, Joseph H., xxvii 
 
 Barrett, Oliver Rogers, x 
 
 Bartlett, Truman H., xxxvin. 
 
 Barton, William Eleazer, 469n. 
 
 Bateman, Newton, 377 
 
 Bates, Edward, 338 
 
 Beardstown, Lincoln speaks at, 338- 
 41 
 
 Beckwith, Hiram W., 282 
 
 Bedell, Grace, 395 
 
 Beecher, Henry Ward, Herndon's 
 estimate of, xxii; interview with 
 Herndon, 322; on Lincoln's death, 
 460 
 
 Bell, John, 378 
 
 Bennett, James Gordon, 428 
 
 Benton, Thomas Hart, 294 
 
 Berry, William, 88, 90 
 
 Bible, read by Lincoln, 36, 39, 477; 
 familiarity with, 258 
 
 Bissell, William Harrison, 219, 312 
 
 Black, Chauncey Forward, xxx 
 
 Black, William J., 253 
 
 Black Hawk war, outbreak, 76; Lin- 
 coln enlists, 77; Lincoln in, 77-83, 
 231; reenlists, 82, 83; bounty 
 lands, 83 ; referred to, 435 
 
 Blackstone's Commentaries, 91, 261 
 
 Blair, Montgomery, 383 
 
 Bledsoe, Albert Taylor, 149, 202 
 
 Bliss, J. S., on Lincoln, 379-81 
 
 Bogue, Vincent, 72, 75 
 
 Bloomington, Lincoln's lecture, 363n.; 
 Convention, Lincoln attends, 311- 
 12; ratification meeting at Spring- 
 field, 314-15n.; referred to, 493 
 
 Booth, Edwin, 465 
 
 Booth, John Wilkes, plans assassina- 
 tion, 465; assassinates Lincoln, 
 454-57; death, 462-64; burial, 495 
 
 Booth, Junius Brutus, 465 
 
 Botts, John Minor, 382 
 
 Boston Advertiser, 232 
 
 Brackenridge, John A., 50 
 
 Breckinridge, John Cabell, 378 
 
 Breese, Sidney, 298 
 
 Britton, Isaac S., 209 
 
 Broadwell, Norman McAlbin, 492 
 
 Brown, Christopher Columbus, 492 
 
 499 
 
5oo 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Browne, Thomas C, 181 
 
 Browning, Orville Hickman, 241, 
 284; frequents Speed's store, 150; 
 in debate, 154; accompanies Lin- 
 coln from Springfield, 393; con- 
 sidered for Supreme Court, 406 
 
 Browning, Mrs. Orville Hickman, 
 letter to, 126-29 
 
 Brumfield, William, 6 
 
 Bryant, John H., 301n. 
 
 Bryant, William Cullen, 369, 428 
 
 Buchanan, James, campaign in Illi- 
 nois, 317, 318; escorts Lincoln to 
 inauguration, 399, 400 
 
 Buffalo (city), 396 
 
 Bull Run, battle, 438-40 
 
 Burba, Erastus Reuben, 32 
 
 Burke, Edmund, biography of, 352 
 
 Burnet House, 363n. 
 
 Burns, Robert, works, 258, 420 
 
 Butler, Evan, 151 
 
 Butler, Speed, 180n. 
 
 Butler, William, Lincoln boards with, 
 149; challenged by Shields, 178, 
 205; Lincoln's second, 193, 202; 
 recommended for appointment, 253; 
 referred to, 300 
 
 Butterfield, Justin, appointed Com- 
 missioner General Land Office, 
 241-43 
 
 Byron, George Noel Gordon, Lord, 
 works, 258, 420 
 
 Calhoun, John, appoints Lincoln sur- 
 veyor, 98; frequents Speed's store, 
 150; in debate, 154; speaks in 
 Springfield, 298 
 
 Calhoun, John Caldwell, 421 
 
 Calk, William, 8-9 
 
 Cambridge, Mass., 232 
 
 Cameron, John M., 107 
 
 Cameron, Simon, promised cabinet 
 office, 381; opposition to, 382; sec- 
 retary of war, 438 
 
 Campbell, A., and Lincoln's cam- 
 paign expenses, 328-29 
 
 Candler, Louis, 223 
 
 'Card and a Correction/ xxxii 
 
 Carlin, Thomas, 156 
 
 Carpenter, William, 104 
 
 Cartter, David K., 373 
 
 Cartwright, Peter, 218, 219 
 
 Case vs. Snow, 491 
 
 Cass, Lewis, 229 
 
 Cassiday, John, 493 
 
 Centralia, 336 
 
 Chandler, 282 
 
 Chandler, Dr. Charles, 102 
 
 Channing, William Ellery, 359 
 
 Chapman, Mrs. Harriet, on Sarah 
 
 Bush Lincoln, 29; on Douglas and 
 Mary Todd, 167 
 
 Charleston, debate, 328, 337; riot 
 cases, 417-19 
 
 Charleston Mercury (S. C), 293 
 
 Chase, Salmon Portland, 366; en- 
 vious of Lincoln, 416; works for 
 presidency, 427; administers oath 
 to Lincoln, 451 
 
 Chatterton, Charles W., 409 
 
 Chelsea, 232 
 
 Cherry vale (Kan.) Globe-News, xxxi 
 
 Chicago, Lincoln speaks, 328; visits, 
 385; Convention, 373 
 
 Chicago Democratic Press, 314 
 
 Chicago Journal, xxxiv 
 
 Chicago Tribune, 293 
 
 Chitty's Pleadings, 91, 261 
 
 Christianity, Lincoln's attitude to- 
 wards, 355-60 
 
 'Christian's Defence, The,' xxx 
 
 'Chronicles of Reuben,' 44-47 
 
 Cincinnati, Lincoln in, 285-87, 396; 
 speech, 363 and note 
 
 Cincinnati Gazette, 93 
 
 Civil War, 434, 452 
 
 Claggett, W. T., 11 
 
 Clary's Grove boys, 69 
 
 Clay, Henry, 314, 421; Lincoln cam- 
 paigns for, 214; defeated, 215; 
 Lincoln opposes, 226; supports But- 
 terfield, 243; speech used by Lin- 
 coln for inaugural address, 386 
 
 Cobb, Howell, 220 
 
 Cogsdale, Isaac, 389 
 
 Colfax, Schuyler, 455 
 
 Columbia, District of, emancipation 
 in, 233 
 
 Columbus (O.), Lincoln speaks there, 
 363; visits, 396 
 
 Compromise of 1850, 294 
 
 Conger, Everton J., 463 
 
 Congress, Lincoln in, 232-34 
 
 Conkling, James Cook, 492; Lin- 
 coln's letter to, 444-48 
 
 Conservative, The (Springfield), 297 
 
 Cook, Burton C, 294, 306 
 
 'Coon' story, 23 
 
 Cooper Institute, speech, 367-69 
 
 Corbett, Boston, 463 
 
 Crawford, Andrew, school of, 33-36 
 
 Crawford, Josiah, Weems Washing- 
 ton, 36; caricatured, 47 
 
 Crawford, Mrs. Josiah, on Lincoln 
 in Indiana, 41-43 
 
 Crittenden, John Jordan, 241 and 
 note 
 
 Crume, Ralph, 6 
 
 Cullom, Shelby Moore, 264n., 492 
 
 Dana, Charles A. (?), 424 
 
INDEX 
 
 501 
 
 Danforth, J. B., 403 
 
 Darwin, Charles, works, 353 
 
 Davis, David, 307, 383, 387, 427; 
 witnesses 'skinning' of Thomas, 
 159; on circuit, 248, 282; Lin- 
 coln as story-teller, 249; trial law- 
 yer, 270, 274; Lincoln on circuit, 
 280; reluctance to go home, 344; 
 Lincoln's religion, 356; Blooming- 
 ton Convention, 312; Chicago Con- 
 vention, 373-74; promises cabinet 
 offices, 381; accompanies Lincoln 
 to Washington, 393; appointment 
 to Supreme Court, 405-08; on Ban- 
 croft's eulogy, 417; on military 
 trials, 449n. 
 
 Davis, Henry Winter, 383 
 
 Davis, Oliver Lowndes, 282 
 
 Davis, Walter, 235, 239 
 
 Dawson, John, elected to legisla- 
 ture, 104, 138 
 
 Day, Frederick S., 304 
 
 Decatur Convention, 372 
 
 Declaration of Independence, eulogy, 
 338-41 
 
 Dedham, 232 
 
 Defrees, John D., 358n. 
 
 Delahay, Mark William, letters to: 
 on Republican policy, 365; presi- 
 dential nomination, 369-70 and 
 note 
 
 Dickey, Theophilus Lyle, on 'house 
 divided' sentiment, 325 and note, 
 426 
 
 Dickson, William Martin, on Lin- 
 coln in reaper case, 285-87; Lin- 
 coln at Cincinnati, 363n. 
 
 Diggins, Wesley, 303 
 
 'Discoveries and Inventions,' lec- 
 ture, 362 
 
 Dole, William P., 409 
 
 Dorsey, Azel W., school of, 32, 34 
 
 Douglas, Stephen Arnold, 406, 493; 
 first meeting with Lincoln, 131; 
 elected to legislature, 139; sup- 
 ports internal improvement sys- 
 tem, 141; defeated by Stuart, 147; 
 states attorney, 149; frequents 
 Speed's store, 150; challenges 
 Whigs to debate, 153-54; debates 
 with Lincoln, 160; and Mary 
 Todd, 167; in Senate, 220; Lin- 
 coln answers Richmond speech, 
 291; Kansas-Nebraska act, 294; 
 speaks in Springfield, 295; truce 
 with Lincoln, 300; Greeley favors, 
 319; interview with Herndon, 321; 
 eastern Republicans favor, 322; re- 
 nominated, 324; speaks in Chi- 
 cago, 327; accepts Lincoln's chal- 
 lenge, 328; debates with Lincoln, 
 
 334-37; Ohio speeches, 363; nom- 
 inated for presidency, 375; vote 
 for, 378; at inauguration, 400-401; 
 last interview with Lincoln, 434n. ; 
 characterization, 329-31 
 
 Drake, Daniel, Lincoln writes, 114, 
 173n. 
 
 Drake, John W., 282 
 
 Dresser, Charles, Lincoln's wedding, 
 180 
 
 Dresser, Thomas Withers, statement 
 on Mrs. Lincoln, 350 
 
 Drummond, Thomas, 289 
 
 Dubois, Jesse Kilgore, 324 and note 
 
 Dummer, Henry Enoch, 145n. 
 
 Duncan, Jason, 114 
 
 Duncan, John, 18 
 
 Early, Jacob M., 83, 136 
 
 Edinburgh Review, 3 S3 
 
 Edwards, Benjamin Stephenson, 492 
 
 Edwards, Cyrus, candidate for Land 
 Office, 241-42 
 
 Edwards, Ninian Wirt, difficulty with 
 Morris, 135; with Allen, 135; with 
 Early; elected to legislature, 138; 
 practises law, 149; witnesses 
 'skinning' of Thomas, 159; on cir- 
 cuit, 248; home of, wedding prep- 
 arations, 169 
 
 Edwards, Mrs. Ninian Wirt (Eliza- 
 beth Todd), 350; and Lincoln and 
 Mary Todd, 165, 166; believed 
 Lincoln insane, 170; on reconcilia- 
 tion of Lincoln and Mary Todd, 
 180; describes Lincoln in White 
 House, 410-12 
 
 Edwards family, 146 
 
 Elliot, Jonathan, Debates on the 
 Adoption of the Federal Consti- 
 tution, 368 
 
 Elkin, David, 27 
 
 Elkin, William F., 138 
 
 Ellis, Abner Yates, on Lincoln's first 
 campaign, 86; loans Lincoln books, 
 93; describes Lincoln, 95, 96; wit- 
 nesses 'skinning' of Thomas, 159; 
 appointment recommended by Yates, 
 391 
 
 Ellsworth, Ephraim Elmer, Lincoln 
 on, 257; accompanies Lincoln to 
 polls, 378; to Washington, 393 
 
 Emancipation, in Dist. Columbia, 
 233; Lincoln on, 427; Proclamation, 
 urged by Herndon, 409; issued, 
 442-43; Lincoln's confidence in, 
 422. See also Slavery 
 
 Emancipator, The, read by Lincoln, 
 23 
 
 Engle, William, 250 
 
502 
 
 INDEX 
 
 English, Revill W., 195, 201 
 Enos, Pascal Paoli, 493 
 Euclid, studied by Lincoln, 248, 257 
 Everett, letter concerning, 252 
 Ewing, William Lee Davidson, 
 
 elected speaker, 155, 160; in duel 
 
 with Shields, 195, 202 
 
 Fanchier, G. B., 80 
 
 Farmer, Aaron, 52 
 
 Farragut, David G., 452 
 
 Fell, Jesse W., Lincoln autobiogra- 
 phy, 3; Lincoln's religion, 357-59 
 
 Ferguson, W. J., 492 
 
 Ficklin, Orlando Bell, 219 
 
 Field, A. P., 308 
 
 Fillmore, Millard, Lincoln's argu- 
 ment against, 317; Illinois vote, 
 318 
 
 Fletcher, Job, 138 
 
 Bord, John T., 465 
 
 Ford, Thomas, 142 
 
 Ford, Worthington Chauncey, x 
 
 Ford family, 146 
 
 Ford's Theater, 455, 464 
 
 Forquer, George, 137, 149 
 
 Forquer family, 146 
 
 Fox, Charles James, 439 
 
 Francis, Newton, 151 
 
 Francis, Simeon, 179, 296 
 
 Francis, Mrs. Simeon, 179 
 
 Freeport debate, 328, 335 
 
 Free Soil Party, 232 
 
 Fremont, John Charles, campaign in 
 Illinois, 316-18; emancipation or- 
 der annulled, 442; presidential 
 aspirations, 427; withdraws from 
 campaign, 448 
 
 Friend, Charles, 14n. 
 
 Gage, George, 303 
 
 Galesburg debate, 328 
 
 Garrison, Mrs. Gertrude, 454n. 
 
 Garrison, William Lloyd, correspon- 
 dent of Herndon, xxi, 292; Hern- 
 don's estimate of, xxii 
 
 Gentry, Allen, 54 
 
 Gentry, James, 54, 57 
 
 Gentry, Kate, 35 
 
 Gentry ville, life in, 54-56; Lincoln 
 speaks at, 214 
 
 Gibbon, Edward, works of, 93 
 
 Giddings, Joshua Reed, 233, 238, 
 381; corresponds with Herndon, 
 xxi; speeches read by Herndon, 
 293; letter to Lincoln, 316 
 
 Gillespie, Joseph, 183; jumps from 
 window, 162; letter from Lincoln 
 on senatorship, 302; describes Lin- 
 coln in Harrison campaign, 160; 
 Lincoln and Van Buren, 208; Lin- 
 
 coln's fairness, 277; on Lincoln's 
 characterization of slavery, 295; 
 describes Lincoln's defeat, 307n.; 
 Lincoln's mind, 351 
 Gladstone, William Ewart, 431 
 Globe Tavern, 237 
 Godby, Russell, on Lincoln, 92; sur- 
 vey for, 100 
 
 Gollaher, Austin, 18 
 
 Goodrich, Grant, 284; offers Lincoln 
 partnership, 247; on Lincoln in 
 Parker vs. Hoyt, 266 
 
 Gourly, James, reminiscence, 474n. 
 
 Graham, Mentor, on Lincoln's ar- 
 rival in New Salem, 66; aids Lin- 
 coln, 71, 99; school attended by 
 Anne Rutledge, 107 
 
 Grant, Ulysses Simpson, 442, 451, 
 452, 455; assassination planned, 
 462 
 
 Gray, Thomas, Elegy quoted by Lin- 
 coln, 1-2 
 
 Greeley, Horace, 428; correspondent 
 of Herndon, 292; letter to Hern- 
 don, 320; interview with Hern- 
 don, 322; Herndon's estimate of, 
 xxii; favors Douglas, 319; on Lin- 
 coln Douglas campaign, 337; de- 
 nounces Lincoln, 442 
 
 Greene, Bowling, and Lincoln, 113; 
 funeral, 114 
 
 Greene, Mrs. Bowling, 120 
 
 Greene, L. M., describes Anne Rut- 
 ledge, 107; Mary Owens, 117 
 
 Greene, Gaines, 120 
 
 Greene, Johnson G., 117 
 
 Greene, William G., works with Lin- 
 coln, 68; sells store, 89; on Lin- 
 coln's grief, 113 
 
 Greenleaf's Evidence, 261 
 
 Grigsby, Aaron, marries Sarah Lin- 
 coln, 17; wedding celebrated, 42 
 
 Grigsby, Charles, wedding, 45 
 
 Grigsby, Nathaniel, 32 
 
 Grigsby, Reuben, wedding, 45 
 
 Grigsby, William, fights Johnston, 41; 
 caricatured, 47 
 
 Grigsby family, Lincoln's resent- 
 ment against, 44 
 
 Grimshaw, Jackson, 366 
 
 Gurley, Phineas Densmore, 461 
 
 Guthrie, James, 386 
 
 Hall, James, 71 
 
 Hall, Levi, 57 
 
 Hall, Squire, letter to, xxvi 
 
 Hamlin, Hannibal, nomination, 373; 
 
 with Lincoln in Chicago, 385n. 
 Hammond, Abram, 244-46 
 Hanks, Abraham, 8-9 
 Hanks, Dennis, on legitimacy of 
 
INDEX 
 
 503 
 
 Nancy Hanks, 2n.; parentage, 14n.; 
 removal to Indiana, 21; on life 
 in Indiana, 22; Lincoln's boyhood, 
 24; songs sung in Indiana, 49; 
 removal to Illinois, 56, 57; visits 
 Lincoln in Washington, 417-19 
 
 Hanks, John, on legitimacy of Nancy 
 Hanks, 2n.; Lincoln's studiousness, 
 39; selects land in Illinois, 59 
 describes stump speech by Lincoln 
 60; hired by Offut, 61; slave auc 
 tion story, 64 and note; fence rails, 
 372 
 
 Hanks, Joseph, 10 
 
 Hanks, Lucy, 2n. 
 
 Hanks, Nancy, illegitimacy, 2-3 , xl; 
 marriage, 4, 6; characterization, 
 13-14. See also Lincoln, Nancy 
 Hanks 
 
 Hanks, Thomas, 9 
 
 Hanks family, characterization, 14 
 
 Hannah, William H., 356 
 
 Hannegan, Edward, 246 
 
 Hardin, John J., 131, 211; prac- 
 tices law in Springfield, 149; in 
 Lincoln-Shields duel, 195, 201; de- 
 feats Baker, 214; Congress, 215; 
 letter on congressional nomina- 
 tion, from Lincoln, 216; withdraws 
 from contest, 218; in Mexican war, 
 219 
 
 Harding, George, 285 
 
 Harding, Jacob, letter to, 304 
 
 Harmon, Oscar F., 282 
 
 Harpers Magazine, Douglas* article, 
 364 
 
 Harris, Clara W., 455, 456 
 
 Harris, Ira, 455 
 
 Harrisburg, Lincoln in 396, 397 
 
 Harrison, Peachy Quinn, 264n. 
 
 Harrison, Peyton L., 493 
 
 Harrison, William Henry, 160, 231 
 
 Hatch, Ozias Mather, 366 
 
 Hawthorne vs. Woolridge, 147 
 
 Hay, John, 352; accompanies Lin- 
 coln to Washington, 393; on Lin- 
 coln in White House, 415-17 
 
 Hay, John, and Nicolay, John George, 
 Abraham Lincoln: A History, 105, 
 434n. 
 
 Hay, Logan, x 
 
 Hay, Milton, 151, 255 
 
 Haycraft, Samuel, describes Caleb 
 Hazel, 18; on Lincoln- Johnston 
 marriage, 28; invites Lincoln to 
 Kentucky, 8 
 
 Hazel, Caleb, school, 17; description, 
 18 
 
 Head, Jesse, 4 
 
 Helm, John B., on camp meeting, 14- 
 16; youthful Lincoln, 17 
 
 Hendricks, Thomas A., 449n. 
 
 Henry, Anson G., recommended for 
 postmastership, 170; letter to, 338 
 
 Hentz, Mrs. Lee, novels of, 93 
 
 Herndon, Archer G., 106; settles in 
 Springfield, xiii-iv; personality, 
 xiv; candidate for legislature, 133, 
 138; withdraws son from college, 
 150 
 
 Herndon, Elliott B., 492; disparag- 
 ing estimate of Lincoln, 469n. 
 
 Herndon, James A., 146; sells store 
 to Lincoln, 88 
 
 Herndon, J. Rowan, 146; on Lincoln's 
 arrival at New Salem, 67; pilots 
 Talisman, 74; sells store to Lin- 
 coln, 88; description of Lincoln, 
 103 
 
 Herndon, William Henry, early life, 
 xiv; meets Lincoln, xv, 73; at- 
 tracted by Lincoln, 146; clerks for 
 Speed, 150; in literary society, 
 151; meets Mary Todd, 166; part- 
 nership with Lincoln, xvi, 211; 
 admitted to bar, 212; disapproves 
 Lincoln's course on Mexican war, 
 223; warns of Whig defections, 
 226; legal career, xvi-vii; on cir- 
 cuit, 248; relations with Lincoln 
 in office, 255-57; Lincoln divides 
 fee, 256; estimate of Lincoln as 
 lawyer challenged, 272n. ; political 
 activities, xviii-xxi; supplies Lin- 
 coln with abolition literature, 292; 
 describes Lincoln's speech, 296; 
 editorials written by, 297; at 
 Bloomington Convention, 311-12; at 
 ratification meeting, 314; eastern 
 trip, 320-23; on 'House divided' 
 speech, 326-27n. ; aids Lincoln dur- 
 ing debates, 336; accompanies 
 Lincoln to polls, 378; letter to Wil- 
 son on Lincoln, 384; and prepara- 
 tion of first inaugural address, 
 386; last meeting with Lincoln in 
 law office, 389-93; visits Lincoln 
 in Washington, 409; interview with 
 Mrs. Lincoln, 413-15; commences 
 biography, xxvi; lectures on Lin- 
 coln, xxviii; on Lincoln's pater- 
 nity, 8n.; analysis of Lincoln's 
 character, 471-90; denies slanders, 
 xxxi-iii; death, xxxvii 
 
 Personality of, key to biography, 
 xiii, xxxviii; justifies biographical 
 method, v-viii; liquor habit, xxiii; 
 intellectual interests, xxiv, 353; not 
 a drug addict, xxiv; religious be- 
 liefs, xxv ; description of, xxvii 
 
 Letters to: from Ashley, 45 In. ; 
 from Davis, 449n. ; from Defrees, 
 
504 
 
 INDEX 
 
 358n.; from Lincoln, 220, 404; on 
 Mexican war, 224, 225; on Ste- 
 phens, 225; on young men in poli- 
 tics, 228; on Walter Davis, 235; 
 on election news, 376; from Mrs. 
 Lincoln, 412; from Nicolay, 35 7n.; 
 from Robert Dale Owen, 487n. ; 
 from Mary Owens (Vineyard), 
 119-21; from Swett, on Davis ap- 
 pointment, 405-08; on Lincoln's 
 character, 425-33; from Whitney, 
 434n., 435n. 
 
 Herndon's Lincoln, scope of, auth- 
 or's statement, vii-viii, x; contro- 
 versy over, xiii; work on com- 
 menced, xxvi; reviews of, xxxiv- 
 xxxvi; reliability, general esti- 
 mate, xxxvii-xl; final estimate, 
 xlvi 
 
 Herold, David E., 462, 464, 466 
 
 Hill, Samuel, affronts Lincoln, 96; 
 postmaster, 101; partner of Mc- 
 Namar, 107; in love with Anne 
 Rutledge, 108 
 
 History of the United States, read 
 by Lincoln, 36 
 
 Hodges, A. G., letter, 224 
 
 Holland, J. G., aided by Herndon, 
 xxvii; on Anne Rutledge story, 
 105; on journey to Washington, 
 396; on contradictory estimates of 
 Lincoln's character, 468-71 
 
 Holmes, Oliver Wendell, poems, 258 
 
 Holt, Joseph, 448 
 
 Hood, John B., 452 
 
 Hooker, Joseph, 461 
 
 Hope, Thomas M., 195, 202 
 
 Horner, Henry, x 
 
 'House Divided' speech, 324-27; jus- 
 tified by Lincoln, 426 
 
 Hughes, Archbishop, 464 
 
 Huntington, 246 
 
 Huntington Library, The Henry E., 
 x, 469n. 
 
 Hurst, Charles R., xv, 150 
 
 Hypochondriasis, and Lincoln, 171 
 
 lies, Elijah, captain, 82 
 
 Illinois, journey to, 57-58 
 
 Illinois Central Railroad Co., sued 
 by Lincoln, 284; aids Douglas, 337 
 
 Illinois College, Herndon attends, 
 xiv 
 
 Illinois Journal, on speech of Lin- 
 coln, 296; Lincoln writes for, 297; 
 quoted, 307; call for convention, 
 311 
 
 Illinois State Journal, on ratification 
 meeting, 315n. ; office of, Lincoln 
 in, 374. See also Sangamon Jour- 
 nal 
 
 Illinois State Register, quoted, 207; 
 
 on ratification meeting, 315n. ; 
 
 satirizes Lincoln, 162 
 Illinois State Historical Library, x 
 'Immortality', see Knox, James 
 Inauguration, first, address prepared, 
 
 386; described, 399-401 
 Independence Hall, speech, 396 
 Indiana, Thomas Lincoln removes to, 
 
 20-21; Lincoln cabin, 23 
 Indiana, Statutes of, 40 
 Indianapolis, Lincoln in, 396 
 Inlow, Abraham, 7 
 'Inquiry,' 259 
 Internal improvements, system 
 
 adopted, 139-41; extended, 154; 
 
 collapse, 161 
 Irwin, Benjamin Franklin, 300, 493 
 
 Jackson, Andrew, 229; proclamation, 
 386 
 
 James, General, 439 
 
 Jayne, Julia, at Lincoln wedding, 
 180; ridicules Shields, 184; writes 
 Rebecca letter, 190; 'Cathleen' 
 lines, 192 
 
 Jayne, William, 300, 493 
 
 Johnson, Andrew, 220, 410; disliked 
 by Lincoln, 413; vice-president^ 
 448; assassination planned, 462; 
 denounced by Herndon, xxi 
 
 Johnson, Reverdy, 285 
 
 Johnston, John D., confused with 
 Lincoln, 18n. ; and 'coon dog, 23; 
 lives with Lincolns, 28, 30; fights 
 Grigsby, 41; hired by Offut, 61; 
 letter to, 388n. 
 
 Johnston, Matilda, lives with Lin- 
 colns, 28, 30; cut by ax, 30-31 
 
 Johnston, Sarah, 28, 30 
 
 Johnston, Sarah Bush, see Lincoln, 
 Sarah Bush Johnston 
 
 Jones, William, store, 50 
 
 Jonesboro debate, 328, 336 
 
 Judd, Norman Buel, 284, 306, 316, 
 406; revolts against Douglas, 294; 
 at Bloomington convention, 312; 
 letter to, on campaign expenses, 
 361; proposes Lincoln for presi- 
 dency, 366; at Chicago convention, 
 374; accompanies Lincoln to Wash- 
 ington, 393 
 
 Kansas, disorder in, 309; sufferers, 
 Lincoln's subscription for, 310 and 
 note 
 
 Kansas-Nebraska act, 294 
 
 Kaskaskia, 142 
 
 Kearsarge, 452 
 
 Keene, Laura, 457, 465 
 
 Kentucky, Thomas Lincoln in, 19 
 
INDEX 
 
 505 
 
 Kentucky Preceptor, 42 
 
 Kenzie, Robert, 253 
 
 Keyes, Charles W., 492 
 
 Keyes, I. W., 356 
 
 King, Turner R., 234 
 
 Kirkham's Grammar, 71 
 
 Kirkpatrick, William, 77 
 
 Knox, James, 'Mortality,' 114; 
 
 quoted by Lincoln, 257; fondness 
 
 for, 258, 496 
 Krume, Ralph, 28 
 
 Lamar, James W., 40 
 
 Lamb family, 146 
 
 Lamborn, Josiah, practices law in 
 Springfield, 149; frequents Speed's 
 store, 150; in debate, 154 
 
 Lamon, Ward Hill, aided by Hern- 
 don, xxvii; life of Lincoln, xxx; 
 on Lincoln's letter to Mrs. Brown- 
 ing, 125; circuit lawyer, 282; on 
 Scott Club speech, 291; accom- 
 panies Lincoln to polls, 378; to 
 Washington, 393, 397 
 
 Land Office, Commissionership, 240 
 
 Lane, James Henry, 439 
 
 Larkins, James, 40 
 
 'Last Leaf,' Lincoln's fondness for, 
 258 
 
 Lawrence, G. W., 282 
 
 Lawrence, Luther W., 303 
 
 Lee, J. C, letter to, 31 On. 
 
 Lee, Robert Edward, 452 
 
 Legislature, Illinois, Lincoln elected, 
 104; session 1834-35, 130-32; ses- 
 sion 1835-36, 132; session 1836- 
 37, 139-45; session 1837, 154; ses- 
 sion 1838-39, 155; session 1839, 
 156; session 1840-41, 160-62, 171 
 and note 
 
 Lewis, Thomas, xxxi 
 
 Life (mag.), quoted, xxxv 
 
 Lincoln, Abraham, 4-5; in Ken- 
 tucky, 8; death, 10 
 
 LINCOLN, ABRAHAM, birth, 6; 
 paternity questioned, 7-8; school 
 in Kentucky, 17; childhood in In- 
 diana, 24; describes Indiana home, 
 21; rapid growth, 25; school in In- 
 diana, 32-36; Weems' Washing- 
 ton, 36; doggerel by, 37, 42-43, 
 48, 151; begins public speaking, 
 40; fights Grigsby, 41; frequents 
 courts, 50; kicked by horse, 51; 
 works on ferry, 52; youthful writ- 
 ings, 52-53; visits New Orleans, 
 54, 61-64; removal to Illinois, 57; 
 in Macon county, 59-61; juggler, 
 62; settles at New Salem, 66; 
 election clerk, 66-67; wrestles 
 Armstrong, 69; studies grammar, 
 
 70-71; pilots Talisman, 73-75; 
 Black Hawk war, 77-83; bounty 
 lands, 83n. ; candidate for legisla- 
 ture, 1832, 84-85; defeated, 87 and 
 note; storekeeper, 88-90; studies 
 law, 91-93; recites doggerel, 94; 
 surveyor, 98-100; postmaster, 101; 
 aids Chandler, 102 
 
 Elected legislature 1834, 103-04; 
 Anne Rutledge, 106; courtship, 110- 
 11; death, effect of, 113-14; meets 
 Mary Owens, 116; proposes, 123- 
 25, 127-29; rejected, 119; in legis- 
 lature, 1834-1837, 130-45; castigates 
 Forquer, 137; internal improve- 
 ment system, 139-41; location of 
 capital, 141-42; anti-slavery pro- 
 test, 143-44; removal to Spring- 
 field, 145; Stuart partnership, 
 147; drunken shoemaker, 151; in 
 debate 154; in legislature, 1837- 
 40, 154-60; caricatures Taylor, 
 157; defends Baker, 158; 'skins' 
 Thomas, 159; jumps from win- 
 dow, 161-62; Mary Todd, 166; at- 
 tempts to break engagement, 168; 
 fails to appear at wedding, 169-70; 
 depression, 170; visits Speed, 171- 
 73; reconciliation with Mary Todd, 
 177, 178-79; duel with Shields, 178, 
 183-205. 
 
 Marriage, 180; Sarah Rickard, 
 182; 'Rebecca' letters, 192; sec- 
 ond to Merryman, 205; temperance 
 speech, 206; meets Van Buren, 208; 
 Logan partnership, 209; Herndon 
 partnership, 211, xvi; defeated by 
 Baker, 212; campaigns for Clay, 
 214; elected to Congress, 215-19; 
 in Congress, 219-31; for Taylor 
 for President, 226; Cass speech, 
 229-31; speaks in New England, 
 231; retires from politics, 236; 
 patent for steamers, 239; Land Of- 
 fice commissionership, 240-43; and 
 hospitable Kentuckian, 244; and 
 comet, 245 ; declines Oregon ap- 
 pointment, 246; renewed interest 
 in law, 247; on circuit, 248-51; 
 divides $5000 fee, 256; Parker vs. 
 Hoyt, 265; notes for law suit, 
 273; 'skins' pension agent, 274-76; 
 defends women in saloon case, 
 276-77; prosecutes Wyant, 278; 
 owned little property, 279 and 
 note; acts as judge, 281; sues Il- 
 linois Central, 284; reaper case, 
 285-87; defends Duff Armstrong, 
 288; sand-bar case, 289. 
 
 Interest in politics revived, 295; 
 answers Douglas, 296; editorials, 
 
506 
 
 INDEX 
 
 297; dodges radicals, 299; Peoria 
 truce, 300, 493; candidate for Sen- 
 ate, 1855, 301-306; defeated, 305- 
 07; helps release negro, 308; coun- 
 sels moderation in dealing with 
 Kansas, 309; joins Republican 
 party, 311; 'Lost Speech,' 312-14; 
 Fremont campaign, 315-18; litho- 
 graphed letter, 318n. ; resentment 
 against Greeley, 319; letter from 
 Herndon on eastern Republicans, 
 322; 'House Divided' speech, 324- 
 27; challenges Douglas to debates, 
 328; debates, 334-37; eulogy on 
 Declaration of Independence, 338- 
 41; campaign expenses, 361; lec- 
 tures, 362; Ohio speeches, 363- 
 65; speaks in Kansas, 365; pro- 
 posed for Presidency, 366; Cooper 
 Institute speech, 367-69; nominated 
 for Presidency, 373; accepts nom- 
 ination, 375, 376. 
 
 Elected President, 378; nominee 
 and President-elect, 379-93; depar- 
 ture from Springfield, 393-95; trip 
 to Washington, 395-98; inaug- 
 urated, 399-401; appointments, 
 402-10; life in White House, 410- 
 17; visited by Dennis Hanks, 417- 
 19; asserts intention of controlling 
 cabinet, 436; plan of campaign for 
 war, 440; emancipation proclama- 
 tion, 442-43; reelected, 448, 450; 
 second inauguration, 452; visits 
 Richmond, 453; conspiracy to as- 
 sassinate, 462; assassination, 454- 
 59; death, effect of, 458; funeral, 
 459-61. 
 
 Ambition, 304; on biographies, 
 353; characterization, 431; by 
 Mary Owens, 121; by Speed, 420- 
 25; conscience, 481; conscientious- 
 ness, 262-64; descriptions, 35, 95, 
 471-73; domestic life, 343-51, xliv; 
 humanity, 482-84; indignation 
 when aroused, 264; kindness, 430; 
 as lawyer: unmethodical, 251-54; 
 in law office, 254-57; reluctance 
 to sue for fees, 261; deficient as 
 technical lawyer, 271-73; appear- 
 ance on circuit, 280; unconvention- 
 ally in court, 287; melancholy, 
 473; mental processes, 475-80; or- 
 ator, 331-33; philosophy, 354, 425; 
 as politician, 427-29; practical 
 mindedness, 351; power of rea- 
 son, 480; reading habits, 257-60; 
 religious belief, 354-60, 432; contro- 
 versy over, xxx, xliv-vi; as story 
 teller, 94; great strength, 70, 103; 
 studiousness, 33, 38-39; supersti- 
 
 tion, 352; temperate habits, 96; will 
 power, 484-87; place in history, 
 488-90 
 
 Lincoln, Mrs. Abraham (Mary 
 Todd), 455, 456; disputed mar- 
 riage discussed, xliii; motive in 
 marrying, 182; proud of husband, 
 237; in Washington, 238; dispo- 
 sition, 343-45, 410, 474n.; difficul- 
 ties with servants, 345-48; domestic 
 troubles, 348-50; visits Chicago, 
 385n.; accompanies Lincoln to 
 Washington, 393; on Lincoln's re- 
 ligion, 359; letter to Herndon, 
 412; interview with Herndon, 
 413; death, 350. See also Todd, 
 Mary 
 
 Lincoln, David, letter to, 4 
 
 Lincoln, Isaac, 4-5 
 
 Lincoln, Jacob, 5 
 
 Lincoln, Jesse, letter to, 4 
 
 Lincoln, John, 5 
 
 Lincoln, Josiah, 5, 11 
 
 Lincoln, Mary, 6 
 
 Lincoln, Mordecai, 4-5; kills Indian, 
 10; characterization, 11 
 
 Lincoln, Nancy, 6 
 
 Lincoln, Nancy Hanks, 26-27. See 
 also Hanks, Nancy 
 
 Lincoln, Robert, 412, 455; taken to 
 mad stone, 352; visited by Lin- 
 coln, 368; accompanies Lincoln to 
 Washington, 393 
 
 Lincoln, Sarah, birth, 6; at school, 
 33; marriage, 17; marriage cele- 
 brated, 42; death, 44 
 
 Lincoln, Sarah Bush Johnston, 28; 
 influence of, 29; encourages Lin- 
 coln's studies, 33; on Lincoln's 
 studiousness, 39; describes Lin- 
 coln's last visit, 30, 387; Lincoln's 
 affection for, 388n.; visited by 
 Herndon, 30 
 
 Lincoln, Thomas, birth, 5; marriage, 
 6; marriage record, 4; characteri- 
 zation, 12-13; Kentucky lands, 18- 
 19; removal to Indiana, 19-21; life 
 in Indiana, 22; buries dead, 26; 
 second marriage, 27-28; Indiana 
 lands, 57n.; in Coles County, 64; 
 death, 60; grave visited by Lin- 
 coln, 387 
 
 Lincoln, Thomas (Tad), 255, 344, 
 393, 415, 474 
 
 Lincoln, William Wallace, 344, 380, 
 474; death, effect on Lincoln, 359, 
 411 
 Lincoln and Herndon, pleadings 
 written by Lincoln, 252n. ; office 
 described, 255; business methods, 
 
INDEX 
 
 507 
 
 256; counsel in Harrison case, 
 264n. 
 
 Literary World, The, xxxv 
 
 Little, Wallace A., 303 
 
 Littlefield, John H., on Lincoln as 
 lawyer, 254-57 
 
 'Lizard' story, 67 
 
 Logan, David, 212, 492 
 
 Logan, Stephen Trigg, 492; on Lin- 
 coln's first campaign, 86; judge, 
 149; in debate, 154; partnership 
 with Lincoln proposed, 170; part- 
 nership with Lincoln, 209; esti- 
 mate of Lincoln, 210; political as- 
 pirations, 210; partnership ter- 
 minated, 211; withdraws from 
 congressional contest, 215; on cir- 
 cuit, 248; office near Lincoln's, 
 255; counsel in Harrison case, 
 264n. ; envious of Lincoln, 287; 
 ridiculed by Lincoln, 288; elected 
 to legislature, 301; supports Lin- 
 coln for senate, 307n. ; and Kan- 
 sas subscription, 31 On. ; at Chi- 
 cago convention, 373-74; Zane's 
 characterization, xvii 
 
 'Long Nine', described, 138; feted, 
 145, 155 
 
 'Lost Township' letters, 185-92 
 
 Louisville, Lincoln in, 172 
 
 Louisville Journal, 93 
 
 Lovejoy, Elijah Parish, death, 150; 
 effect on Herndon, xiv 
 
 Lovejoy, Owen, attempts to enlist 
 Lincoln with radicals, 298-300; 
 Douglas debates with, 301; at 
 Bloomington convention, 312 
 
 Lowell (Mass.), Lincoln in, 232 
 
 Lyman, William, 303 
 
 McClellan, George Brinton, 284, 337; 
 and Lincoln, 440, 441; defeated 
 for presidency, 448, 450 
 
 McClernand, John Alexander, 141, 
 219, 492 
 
 McCormick, Andrew, 138 
 
 McCormick vs. Manny, 285 
 
 McDonald, Joseph E., on Lincoln in 
 Wyant prosecution, 278; on mili- 
 tary trials, 449n. 
 
 McGaughey, Edward Wilson, 241 
 
 McHenry, Henry, 100 
 
 McLean county vs. Illinois Central, 
 284 and note 
 
 McLean, John, 246, 366; letter to, 
 253; in reaper case; Lincoln's opin- 
 ion of, 287 
 
 McNabb, Bap., 96-97 
 
 McNamar, John, corrects Lincoln's 
 handbill, 84; at New Salem, 107; 
 
 Anne Rutledge, 108; returns to 
 New York, 109; detained, 110; 
 describes Anne Rutledge, 111; re- 
 turns to New Salem, 114-15; gives 
 Herndon Anne Rutledge story, xli 
 
 McNeil, John, see McNamar, John 
 
 McWilliams, Amzi, 282 
 
 Mackay, Charles, poem, 260 
 
 Macon county, Lincolns settle in, 
 59 
 
 Maltby, Harrison, letter to, 317 
 
 Manassas, see Bull Run 
 
 Manchester Mirror, 368 
 
 "Mann, Horace, 220 
 
 Marsh, Mathew S., letter, xlii 
 
 Massachusetts Historical Society, x 
 
 Matheny, Charles Reynolds, heirs, 
 278 
 
 Matheny, James Harvey, xxx, 214, 
 492; and drunken shoemaker, 151; 
 describes Lincoln's wedding, 180- 
 81 
 
 Mather, Thomas, 398 
 
 Mather family, 146 
 
 Matteson, Joel Alexander, 305 
 
 Maynard, Horace, 382, 410 
 
 Medill, Joseph, 382 
 
 Mentelle, Madame, 164 
 
 Merryman, Elias H., duel, 178; Lin- 
 coln's second, 193, 201; letter on 
 Shield's duel, 196-204; challenged 
 by Whiteside, 205 
 
 Mexican War, supported by Lin- 
 coln, 219; opposed, 221-26 
 
 Metzker, James Preston, 288 
 
 f Milk-sick', attacks Indiana settle- 
 ment, 25-27, 56 
 
 Milton, John, works, 420 
 
 Minier, George W., statement, 491- 
 92 
 
 Missouri, disorder, 309 
 
 Missouri Compromise, repealed, 294, 
 295 
 
 Montauk, The, 463 
 
 Moore, John, 393 
 
 Morris, Achilles, 135 
 
 Morris, Martin M., letter to, 213 
 
 Morris, W. M., 362 
 
 Morrison, J. L. D., 241-42, 306 
 
 'Mortality', see Knox, James 
 
 Mudd, Samuel, 462, 464 
 
 Murray, James, 250 
 
 Murray's English Reader, 34 
 
 Nation, The, quoted, xxxv-vi 
 National Era, The, 293 
 Naylor, Alison, 465 
 Neale, Thomas M., 132 
 Needham, Daniel, 64 
 Nelson, Dr., 68 
 
5 o8 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Nelson, Thomas H., and Lincoln, 
 244-46 
 
 Newton, Isaac, 476 
 
 New England, Lincoln in, 231, 368 
 
 New Orleans, voyage to, 54, 61-64; 
 slavery at, 63-64 and note 
 
 New Salem, boat stranded on dam, 
 62; Lincoln settles there, 64, 66; 
 description, 65 ; dam destroyed, 75 ; 
 people support Lincoln, 87; life in, 
 96; Lincoln postmaster, 101 
 
 Newhall family, 283 
 
 New York, Lincoln in, 396 
 
 New York Tribune, 293 
 
 Niagara Falls, 238 
 
 Nicolay, John George, 438; on Lin- 
 coln's religion, 357n. ; secretary, 
 377, 408, 415, 416; accompanies 
 Lincoln to Washington, 393; ver- 
 sion of farewell address, 394 and 
 note 
 
 Nicolay, John George, and Hay, John, 
 Abraham Lincoln: A History, 105, 
 43 4n. 
 
 Norton, Jesse Olds, 304 
 
 'Nothing to Wear', 479 
 
 Offut, Denton, hires Lincoln, 61; 
 Lincoln clerks for, 68; arranges 
 wrestling match, 69; later life, 71 
 
 Oglesby, Richard James, 455, 492 
 
 'Oh! Why should the spirit of mor- 
 tal be proud', see Knox, James 
 
 O'Laughlin, Michael, 462, 464 
 
 Opdycke family, 146 
 
 Oregon, office offered Lincoln, 243, 
 declined, 246 
 
 Orendorff, Alfred, xxvi 
 
 Orme, William W., 406 
 
 Osgood, Uri, 306 
 
 Ottawa, debate, 328, 335 
 
 Owen, Sir Richard, 476 
 
 Owen, Robert Dale, on Lincoln, 487n. 
 
 Owens, Mary, visits New Salem, 
 116; description of, 117; Lincoln 
 proposes, 118, 123, 124-25, 127-29; 
 rejected, 119; marriage, 129; let- 
 ters from, to Herndon, 119-21; 
 letters to, from Herndon, 122-25 
 
 Pain, John, 314 
 
 Paine, Thomas, writings read by 
 Lincoln, 102; Age of Reason, 355 
 
 Palmer, John McAuley, 306, 492; re- 
 volt against Douglas, 294; speaks 
 at ratification meeting, 315n. 
 
 Pappsville, speech, 85 
 
 Parker, Theodore, letters to, xvii, 
 xxxviii, 327n. ; admired by Hern- 
 don, xxi, 293; lecture read by Lin- 
 
 coln, 323; writings admired by Lin- 
 coln, 359 
 
 Parker vs. Hoyt, 265 
 
 Parks, Samuel Conant, 304 
 
 Paulding, James Kirke, 207 
 
 Payne, Lewis Thornton, see Powell 
 
 Peck, Ebenezer, 139, 316, 366 
 
 Pekin, Whig convention, 214 
 
 People vs. Elizabeth ShirtlefF ct al., 
 277n. 
 
 'Perpetuation of our Free Institu- 
 tions,' speech, 152-53 
 
 Petersburg, Whig convention, 218 
 
 Philadelphia, Whig convention, 226; 
 Lincoln in, 396, 397 
 
 Phillips, Wendell, 320; correspondent 
 61 Herndon, xxi, 292; speeches 
 read by Herndon, 293; denounces 
 Lincoln, 442 
 
 Pickett, Thomas J., letter to, 366; 
 charged with fraud, 403 
 
 Pierce, Franklin, 316 
 
 Pierrepont, Edwards, 464 
 
 Pike's Arithmetic, 34 
 
 Pilgrim's Progress, 36 
 
 Pinckney, Daniel J., 303 
 
 Pinkerton, Allan, 398 
 
 Pirtle, Henry, 11 
 
 Pitcher, John, 53 
 
 Pittsburg, Lincoln in, 396 
 
 Polk, James Knox, 215, 222 
 
 Popular Sovereignty, summed up by 
 Lincoln, 294; issue of debates, 
 334; article of Douglas on, 364 
 
 Posey, Francis, aids Lincoln family, 
 20-21 
 
 Posey, , 60 
 
 Powell, Lewis Thornton, alias Payne, 
 462, 464 
 
 Quincy debate, 328 
 
 Radford, Reuben, 89 
 
 Rathbone, Henry R., 455, 456, 457, 
 465 
 
 Read, John Meredith, 338 
 
 'Rebecca' letters, 185-92 
 
 Reed, James A., controversy with 
 Herndon, xxx-xxxiii 
 
 Remsberg, J. E., letter to, xxxix 
 
 Republican party, formation in Illi- 
 nois, 312; nominates Lincoln for 
 Senate, 324; 1860 platform, 375 
 
 Republican, The (Springfield), letter 
 concerning, 347 
 
 Reynolds, John, 77 
 
 Rice, E. J., 264 
 
 Richardson, Joseph C., 37 
 
 Richardson, William Alexander, 220, 
 318 
 
 Richmond, captured, 452 
 
INDEX 
 
 509 
 
 Richmond Enquirer, The, 293, 298 
 
 Rickard, Noah, 151 
 
 Rickard, Sarah, 182 
 
 Riney, Zachariah, school, 17 
 
 Rives. George, letter to, 235 
 
 'Robinson Crusoe', 36 
 
 Roby, Absolom, 36 
 
 Roby, Kate, 35 
 
 Rochester, Van Buren in, 208 
 
 Rockport, Lincoln in, 214 
 
 Rollin, Charles, 93 
 
 Romine, John, 38 
 
 Rosette, John E., 492; letter to, 347 
 
 Rutledge, Anne, memory, effect on 
 Lincoln, 105; characterization, 106- 
 07, 110-11; courted by McNamar, 
 108-110; to marry Lincoln, 111-12; 
 death, effect on Lincoln, 112-14; 
 burial place, 115; love recalled by 
 Lincoln, 389; Herndon's lecture, 
 controversy over, xxviii-xxx; lec- 
 ture discussed, xl-xliii 
 
 Rutledge, James, 90, 106 
 
 Rutledge, John M., 112 
 
 St. Louis Republican, 93 
 
 Sangamon Journal, read by Lincoln, 
 93; communication to, 133; editor, 
 179. See also Illinois Journal, Il- 
 linois State Journal 
 
 Sangamon River, improvement ad- 
 vocated by Lincoln, 61, 87; Talis- 
 man, 72-75 
 
 Sargent, Porter, 303 
 
 Sawyer, Elizabeth (Butterfield), let- 
 ter, 242n. 
 
 Scott, Winfield, Lincoln's speech, 291; 
 plans for inauguration, 398, 400; 
 disagreement with Lincoln, 440 and 
 note 
 
 Scripps, John Locke, interview with 
 Lincoln, 1 ; autobiography for, 5-6 
 
 Seward, William Henry, 320, 366, 
 369, 397, 439; speeches read by 
 Herndon, 293; interview with 
 Herndon, 321, 322; effect on, 
 'House Divided' speech, 326; pres- 
 idential prospects decline, 371; 
 loses nomination, 373; ambition, 
 414; belief in Lincoln's inferiority, 
 435; 'Thoughts for the President's 
 Consideration', 436, 437; assassina- 
 tion planned, 462; attempted, 458 
 
 Shakespeare, William, 476; Lincoln's 
 fondness for, 257, 455; works, ac- 
 quaintance with, 258, 420, 477 
 
 Shaw, J. Henry, 260 
 
 Sheridan, Philip H., 452 
 
 Sherman, William Tecumseh, 452; 
 letter to, 450 
 
 Shields, James, and internal im- 
 
 provement system, 141; duel with 
 Lincoln, 178; 183-205; duel, in- 
 fluence of, 180; challenges Butler, 
 205; in Mexican war, 219; Sen- 
 ate, 300; defeated for reelection, 
 306 
 
 Short, James, 101 
 
 Shutt, George M., 492 
 
 Simmons, Pollard, 98 
 
 Simpson, Mathew, 461 
 
 Slavery, opposed by Herndon, xxi; 
 and Thomas Lincoln, 20; at New 
 Orleans, 63-64 and note; agitation, 
 142; protest against, 143-44; bill to 
 abolish, Dist. Columbia, 233; Lin- 
 coln on, 295, 310; issue of de- 
 bates, 334; Republican platform on, 
 375; abolished, 442-43, 451n. 
 
 Smith, Caleb, 220, 381 
 
 Smith, Mrs. C. M. (Anne Todd), 
 165 
 
 Smith, James, controversy with 
 Herndon, xxix 
 
 Smith, Robert, 220 
 
 Smoot, Coleman, 104 
 
 Spangler, Edward, 456, 462, 464 
 
 Sparrow, Betsy (Hanks), 13; in In- 
 diana, 21; death, 26 
 
 Sparrow, Henry, 2n. 
 
 Sparrow, Thomas, 13; in Indiana, 
 21; death, 26 
 
 Speed, James, 172 
 
 Speed, Joshua Fry, 241n.; Herndon 
 works for, xv; letter to Drake, 
 114; Lincoln rooms with, 148; store 
 of, 150; witnesses 'skinning' of 
 Thomas, 159; introduces Lincoln 
 and Mary Todd, 166; advises Lin- 
 coln to break engagement, 168; on 
 Lincoln's depression, 170; Lincoln 
 visits, 171-73; marriage, 173, 175; 
 with Lincoln in Chicago, 385; on 
 relations with Lincoln, 420-25 ; 
 letters to, from Lincoln: on mar- 
 riage, 174-78; on duels, 205; de- 
 feat by Baker, 212; married life, 
 237; on Everett law suit, 252; 
 slavery, 310 
 
 Speed, Mrs. Lucy G., influence on 
 Lincoln, 172-73 
 
 Spencer, Herbert, 353, 476 
 
 'Spot Resolutions,' 221-23 
 
 Springfield, Herndon elected mayor, 
 xxiii; Talisman celebration, 74; lots 
 purchased by Lincoln, 99; life in, 
 123, 146; state capital, 141-42; 
 Lincoln removes to, 145; first leg- 
 islature, 156; Lincoln speaks at, 
 328 
 
 Springfield Marine and Fire Insur- 
 ance Co., 362n. 
 
Sio 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Stanton, Edwin McMasters, 442, 495; 
 in reaper case, 285; and Dennis 
 Hanks, 418-19; assassination 
 planned, 462 
 
 Stephens, Alexander Hamilton, 220, 
 382; Lincoln's opinion of, 225 
 
 Steubenville, Lincoln in, 396 
 
 Stewart, , 465 
 
 Stoddard, William O., on effect of 
 Lincoln's death, 458 
 
 Stone, Dan, elected to legislature, 
 138; anti-slavery protest, 144; 
 practices law in Springfield, 149 
 
 Stone, Frederick, 465 
 
 Story's Equity, 261 
 
 Strong, Schuyler, 149 
 
 Strunk, John, 304, 305 
 
 Stuart, John Todd, xxx, 492; induces 
 Lincoln to study law, 91; elected to 
 legislature, 104; encourages Lin- 
 coln, 145; partnership with Lin- 
 coln, 147, 209; practices law in 
 Springfield, 149; letters to, 170-71; 
 envious of Lincoln, 287; reminis- 
 cence, 292; protest on Lincoln's 
 affiliation with Republicans, 311; 
 on Lincoln's religion, 356; blue 
 mass pills, 473 
 
 Stuart family, 146 
 
 Stuart and Edwards, 263 
 
 Stuart and Lincoln, office, 148; prac- 
 tice, 149 
 
 Suicide, lines on, 172 
 
 Sumner, Charles, 320; Herndon's 
 estimate, xxii; correspondent of 
 Herndon, 292; speeches read by 
 Herndon, 293; envious of Lincoln, 
 416 
 
 Sumner, Edwin V., 393 
 
 Sumter, Fort, 434, 453 
 
 Supreme Court, Illinois, 162 
 
 Surratt, Mrs. Annie, 462, 464 
 
 Surratt, John H., 464 
 
 Swan, Hurlbut, 303 
 
 Sweeney, William, school, 34 
 
 Swett, Leonard, on circuit, 248, 282; 
 defends Wyant, 278; at Blooming- 
 ton convention, 312; complains of 
 'House Divided' speech, 327; on 
 Lincoln as trial lawyer, 269; on 
 Davis appointment, 405-08; on Lin- 
 coln's character, 425-33 
 
 Sweet, Martin P., 241, 303 
 
 Talcott, Waite, 303 
 
 Talcott, Wash., letter to, 403 
 
 Talisman, The, ascends Sangamon, 
 xv, 72-75 
 
 Taney, Roger Brooke, 434, 451; ad- 
 ministers oath to Lincoln, 399, 401 
 
 Tanner, , 277n. 
 
 Taylor, Edmund Dick, 157, 298 
 
 Taylor, Green B., 41 
 
 Taylor, James, 52 
 
 Taylor Zachary, 229, in Black Hawk 
 war, 82; nomination, 226; Lincoln 
 campaigns for, 231 
 
 Temperance, Herndon campaigns for, 
 xxiii 
 
 Thomas, Jesse B., frequents Speed's 
 store, 149-50; in debate, 154; 
 'skinned' by Lincoln, 159 
 
 Thomas, George H., 452 
 
 Thomas, Richard S., letter to, 212 
 
 Thompson, Jacob, x 
 
 Thompson, Richard W., 246 
 
 Thompson, Lincoln wrestles, 
 
 Todd, Mrs. Anne Eliza Parker, 164 
 
 Todd, Mary, girlhood, 163; ancestry, 
 164; comes to Springfield, 164, 
 165; meets Lincoln, 166; courted 
 by Douglas, 167; wedding failure, 
 169; reconciliation with Lincoln, 
 177, 178-79; marriage, 180; ridi- 
 cules Shields, 184; 'Rebecca' let- 
 ter, 190; 'Cathleen' lines, 192. 
 See also Lincoln, Mrs. Abraham 
 
 Todd, Robert S., 164 
 
 Todd family, 146 
 
 Toombs, Robert, 220 
 
 Townsend, George Alfred, on Hern- 
 don, xxvii 
 
 Trapp, Albert H., 306 
 
 Treat, Samuel Hubbel, 251, 320, 491; 
 practices law in Springfield, 149; 
 on circuit, 249; Lincoln's first su- 
 preme court case, 260 
 
 Trent Brothers, 90 
 
 Truesdale, Calvin, letter to, 403 
 
 Trumbull, Lyman, 316; letter to, 
 from Herndon, xx; speaks in 
 Springfield, 298; senatorial as- 
 pirations, 303; elected senator, 
 305-07; at Bloomington conven- 
 tion, 312; interview with Hern- 
 don, 321 
 
 Turner, Thomas J., 220, 303 
 
 Turnham, David, on life in Indiana, 
 22; on Lincoln's boyhood, 25; 
 Statutes of Indiana, 40; on songs 
 sung in Indiana, 48-49; buys Lin- 
 coln property, 57 
 
 Van Bergen, Peter, 101 
 Van Buren, Martin, 207 
 Vandalia, 131, 142 
 'Vestiges of Creation', 354 
 Vineyard, Mrs. Jesse, see Owens, 
 
 Mary 
 Volney, Constantine de, writings, 
 
 102, 355 
 
INDEX 
 
 511 
 
 Voltaire, Francois Marie Arouet de, 
 
 writings, 102 
 Voorhees, D. W., 282 
 
 Walker, Cyrus, 149 
 
 Wallace, William S., 167, 393 
 
 Wallace, Mrs. William S., (Frances 
 Todd), 165 
 
 Ward, Artemus, pseud. (Charles 
 Brockden Brown) 379 
 
 Ward Academy, 164 
 
 Warnick, William, 60 
 
 Warren, Louis Austin, 18n. 
 
 Washburne, Elihu Benjamin, 285, 
 316, 403; letters to, on senator- 
 ship, 303, 305-07; meets Lincoln 
 in Washington, 397 
 
 Washington, arrival at, 397 
 
 Washington Society, address, 206; 
 effect, 218 
 
 Webster, Daniel, supports Butter- 
 field, 242n., 243; speeches models 
 for Lincoln, 327, 386 
 
 Webster's Spelling Book, 34 
 
 Weed, Thurlow, visits Lincoln, 383; 
 interview with Lincoln, 426; on 
 Lincoln's use of patronage, 429 
 
 Weems, Mason Locke, Washington, 
 36, 53 
 
 Weik, Jesse William, collaborates 
 with Herndon, viii, xxxiii; on last 
 meeting of Herndon and Lincoln 
 in law office, 391-393; letters to: 
 on Butterfield, 242n.; from Camp- 
 bell, 329; from Conkling, 444n.; 
 from McDonald, 449n. 
 
 Weldon, Lawrence, on Lincoln as 
 circuit lawyer, 257; eulogy, 496 
 
 Wentworth, John, 220 
 
 Westminster Review, 353 
 
 Wheeler, Alanson K., 304 
 
 Whig party, espoused by Lincoln, 
 85; moribund, 310-12 
 
 White, Albert S., 246 
 
 White, Horace, edits Herndon's Lin- 
 coln, xxxvii; on Herndon's Lincoln, 
 xlvi; preserves eulogy on Declara- 
 tion of Independence, 340 
 
 White, Hugh Lawson, 134 
 
 Whiteman, 282 
 
 Whiteside, John Davis, in Lincoln- 
 Shields duel, 178, 193-96, 201, 
 202; challenges Merryman, 205 
 
 Whitney, Henry Clay, paymaster, 
 43 5n.; on Lincoln's opinion of 
 Herndon, 252; life on circuit, 282; 
 on Lincoln during debates, 336; 
 Lincoln as lecturer, 363; Lincoln's 
 last interview with Douglas, 434n; 
 on Lincoln and battle of Bull Run, 
 439-41 
 
 Whitney, Doctor, 303 
 
 Wigfall, Louis Tresvall, 401 
 
 Willard's Hotel, 397, 399 
 
 Williams, Archibald, 284 
 
 Wilson, Henry, 320; interview with 
 Herndon, 321; letter, 383-85 
 
 Wilson, Robert L., on Lincoln's mel- 
 ancholy, 114; describes political 
 meeting, 136; elected to legisla- 
 ture, 138; on Lincoln and capital 
 contest, 141; Lincoln and battle of 
 Bull Run, 438 
 
 Wilson, William, 80 
 
 Winthrop, Robert Charles, 220 
 
 Woman suffrage, Lincoln and, 133- 
 34 
 
 Wood, William, 53 
 
 Wood, W. S., 393 
 
 Worcester, speech, 232 
 
 Wright, Mrs. Marjorie Brown, x 
 
 Wright case, 274-76 
 
 Wyant, Isaac, 278 
 
 Yates, Richard, 316, 406, 455; at 
 Bloomington convention, 312; ap- 
 points Herndon bank commissioner, 
 391; accompanies Lincoln from 
 Springfield, 393 
 
 Young Men's Lyceum, 152 
 
 Zane, Charles S., 492; describes Lin- 
 coln and Herndon, xvi; partner- 
 ship with Herndon, xxvi 
 
s tr'