Lincoln's last words

[loetar44]

Why are we so preoccupied with the last words of the U.S. Presidents? Yes, like others I’ve also a certain fascination with their last words. Don’t ask why. Maybe it is because these words will be remembered as the last spoken words they leave behind, the last words they will ever say … But it’s my opinion that we don’t know Lincoln’s dying words, if there were any spoken at the moment of his death or immediately prior to his assassination. Let me explain.

I doubt that Lincoln scant seconds before JWB fired the fatal bullet into his brain, that he had turned to Mary and whispered that he would visit the Holy Land and see those places hallowed by the footsteps of the Savior. If so, why aren’t these (last) words better known? I believe that the source of these words is Mary Lincoln. As I remember she gave in 1882 (17 years after the assassination) an interview, in which she confided that her man spoke these words and even had said “There is no place I so much desire to see as Jerusalem.” Mary shared this memory with with a Baptist minister named Noyes W. Minor, who later wrote the words down. How reliable is Mary’s statement and how reliable are the notes?

Stephen Mansfield, author of Lincoln's Battle with God, says that Lincoln wasn’t a religious man. He was never baptized, never joined a church and many historians have concluded that he wrestled with or even had no faith and was often openly anti-religion. So I do not believe that Lincoln did discuss a spiritual journey with his wife in the presidential box in Ford’s Theatre, while enjoying a British satire of American manners. I doubt that he would call Christ the Savior and declare himself eager to see the Holy Land in the last moments of his life. I agree with Lauri, that if (nobody knows that for sure) Lincoln spoke with Mary about this subject, it was in the carriage and not in the box.

I’m also skeptic about the words “"What will Miss Harris think of my hanging on to you so" — "She won't think anything about it", maybe spoken but not as his last words. The Lincolns arrived at the theater sometime shortly after 8:30 p.m. “Hail to the Chief” was played and the audience applauded. Lincoln bowed in response, Mary on her husband’s hand. At that moment I suppose she said to Lincoln “What will Miss Harris think of my hanging on to you so” and Lincoln answered "She won't think anything about it". To speak the words here and at this moment is logical. Why should he have spoken these words shortly before his death, while enjoying the satire. Mary was not holding his hand in the box as far as I know. She was sitting not at arm's length from her man.

JWB fired his shot around 10:15 p.m. I cannot believe that there was during more than 90 minutes complete silence in the presidential box, that there was not spoken a single word. So I don’t believe that "She won't think anything about it" were Lincolns last words. It’s unlogical.

As said, according to my opinion we don’t know Lincoln last words. Surely, many insist that Lincolns last words are known, but it’s my believe that it is more myth than history. It’s even questionable that the last words Lincoln heard were the words spoken by Asa Trenchard (“You sockdologizing old mantrap.”), because at the same moment he was shot. If he heard Trenchard’s line, he also heard how the audience roared with laughter and I personally think that Lincoln's final utterance was laughter. How sad. JWB shot the President at point-blank range, in a split second. Maybe Lincoln’s last “words” were not audible or intelligible to others, even not to Mary, or the others in the presidential box.'

Any comments?