Your opinion on why New Salem died

[Troy Cowan]

I wouldn't use Ward Lamon as a source to confirm any particular historical facts other than conversations Lamon had with Lincoln or incidents involving Lincoln that Lamon witnessed. Even then, Lamon's accuracy was suspect.

I'm pretty sure Lamon didn't show up in Illinois till after New Salem had ceased to exist, or at least that he didn't have any personal experiences in New Salem, so the whole Clary's Grove Boys thing would not have been within his direct knowledge.

It seems to me, from my reading, that New Salem "winked out," as Lincoln himself might have put it, once it became clear that the Sangamon River wasn't going to provide the great economic boon to the community they'd hoped it would be.

Liz,

Ward Lamon was President Abraham Lincoln's best friend. To put limits on him as a source would be a crime in my opinion.

The closest I could come to a resident of New Salem describing the Clary's Grove boys was William Herndon. William's parents lived 5 miles north-east of New Salem. His brother had a store in New Salem. William Herndon said "to the south-west, lay a strip of timber called Clary's Grove. The boys who lived there were a terror to the entire region."

Let me ask you, "would you like to live in such a place?"