Version of Assassination Story on TV

[STS Lincolnite]

(07-20-2020 04:20 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  Scott, do you believe Ward Hill Lamon made up the story of Lincoln's prescient dream?

Roger, to answer your question, I would say: Not Exactly.

I agree with Jon White’s assessment.

The story first appeared elsewhere (fictional). Then was further expanded on in another publication. It seems Lamon (or perhaps his daughter, who was involved in writing/editing the 1895 Recollections where the story appeared) then appropriated it, embellished it, and inserted himself into the story. Primary evidence does not seem to support Lincoln having had this particular dream (though there is support for other dreams) or Lamon’s version of it.

It does make a great story though!!

Historian Jon White wrote a brief article discussing this dream that Lincoln allegedly had. The citation is as follows (Roger, I will send a pdf copy to post):

Jonathan W. White, “Did Lincoln Dream he Died?”, For the People: A Newsletter of the Abraham Lincoln Association, Fall 2014 (Vol. 16, No. 3).


For a more thorough examination of Lincoln’s dreams see a full chapter in his book:

Jonathan W. White, Midnight in America: Darkness, Sleep, and Dreams During the Civil War (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2017), 149-172.