Lincoln's birthday

[Ed Steers]

Like most of you, events like the "Minor Affair" have always fascinated me. I seem to be attracted to frauds and enjoy trying to debunct them or write about them (hence my "Hoax" book and "Lincoln Legends"). I do not mean to tout my publications, but I devote a chapter to the "Minor Affair" in "Lincoln Legends" after reading how so many Lincoln scholars believed the letters authentic without researching many of the obvious internal discrepancies. Paul Angle took on the mighty while still a young man and debunked the whole affair; a rather courageous thing at such an early stage in his career. I was fortunate enough to acquire all four of the Atlantic Monthly magazines many years ago. I might also mention that the Second Annual R. Gerald McMurtry Lecture by Don Fehrenbacher titled "The Minor Affair An Adventure in Forgery and Detection" was published as a pamphlet by the Louis A. Warren Lincoln Library and Museum in 1979. It is an excellent source for those of you interested in the "affair."