Lincoln's last words

[Eva Elisabeth]

Thanks, Kees, for providing the pdf download, what a fascinating document!!!
Nevertheless I second your last statement, leaving out "still". I consider Mary's letter and Dr. Henry's letter reliable, both written in close proximity to the event (especially the latter letter), compared to Rev. Miner's recollections of what Mary told 17 years later - a few days before her death. Time expands memory, and according to W. A. Evans in "Mrs. Abraham Lincoln", "in 1882...there is testimony that her mind showed evidence of loss of quality", and that "there is considerable suspicion of diabetic coma, in some degree, during the last week of her life". Since IMO the entire wording of the account Miner noted down to me sounds quite Mary-like, but in no way Lincoln-like, I would believe her mind moved the statement uttered earlier in the week (see her letter) to the "end", and "extended" it by shifting it onto a religious level which sure comforted her to some extent (thinking of religious matters and in religious terms).