Lincoln Discussion Symposium

From the book A Portrait of Abraham Lincoln in Letters by his Oldest Son- edited by Paul Angle:

Robert Todd Lincoln wrote in a letter dated June 18, 1918 to a Mr. Markens about his father's writing habits:

"...As to the pens he used, I cannot actually remember, but in early life he must have used quills, as everyone did in our part of the country. In later life he used steel pens entirely, and the character of the pen he used is sufficiently shown in the writing itself. He was a very deliberate writer, anything but rapid. I cannot remember any peculiarity about his posture. As to dictation, I never saw him dictate to anyone, and it certainly was not his practice to do so. He seemed to think nothing of the labor of writing personally and was accustomed to make many scraps of notes or memoranda. In writing a careful letter, he first wrote it himself, then corrected it, and then rewrote the corrected version himself. You must remember that there were in those days practically no private stenographers. I do not recall having seen any letter written by Nicolay or by Hay which was personally signed by him."
Robert T. Lincoln

That last sentence has been on my mind- about RTL not recalling any letter written by Lincoln's secretaries that was signed by him. Does that statement rule out that Hay was the author of the Bixby letter?

This may be a case of selective memory. Plus it's 50 years after the fact.

Perhaps. I actually thought about that. As I look further in the book I'll see what he says about the Bixby letter- because he does mention it. Still, it's a powerful statement.

(06-15-2014 07:23 AM)LincolnMan Wrote: [ -> ]Does that statement rule out that Hay was the author of the Bixby letter?

Bill, if I remember correctly, Jason Emerson has argued quite strongly that Abraham Lincoln was the Bixby letter's author, and Jason uses Robert Lincoln's words as his primary source/reason for this position.

Thanks for sharing that Roger. It confirms my sense that RTL was being adamant about what he wrote. For me it carries a lot of weight.