Lincoln and Ann Rutledge

[David Lockmiller]

(05-08-2014 09:09 AM)Lewis Gannett Wrote:  He never even casually mentions Ann in subsequent letters to his most intimate friend at the time, Joshua Speed.

Speed wrote to Herndon about Ann Rutledge, after Lincoln's death: "It is all new to me" (Herndon's Informants, 431). It's noteworthy that in the surviving Lincoln-Speed correspondence (mostly letters from Lincoln to Speed; Speed's to Lincoln have been lost), Lincoln gave Speed encouragement and advice about Speed's tentative relations with his future wife. Lincoln does not cite his own romantic experience with Ann Rutledge in these letters. Scholars who support the revival of the Ann Rutledge story have not addressed the fact that Lincoln apparently never discussed with Speed his relationship with Ann. Yes, Lincoln was famously, even notoriously private; "the most shut-mouthed man" he ever knew, Herndon memorably said. The one likely exception however was Speed. Lincoln "disclosed his whole heart to me," Speed told Herndon (HI 430).

This posting seems to be contradicted below:

William H. Herndon, Jesse William Weik, Herndon's Lincoln: The True Story of a Great Life, Etiam in minimis major, The History and Personal Recollections of Abraham Lincoln by William H. Herndon, for twenty years his friend and Jesse William Weik

[The Herndon's Lincoln Pubishing Company, Springfield, Ill., 1888.]

At this point, as affording us the most reliable account of Mr. Lincoln's condition and views, it is proper to insert a portion of his correspondence with Mr. Speed. For some time Mr. Speed was reluctant to give these [page 218] letters to the world. After some argument, however, he at least shared my view that they were properly a matter of history, and sent them to me, accompanied by a letter, in which he says:
I enclose you copies of all the letters of any interest from Mr. Lincoln to me. Some explanation may be needed that you may rightly understand their import. In the winter of 1840 and 1841, he was unhappy about his engagement to his wife not being entirely satisfied that his heart was going with his hand. How much he suffered then on that account none knew so well as myself; he disclosed his whole heart to me.

[Lincoln wrote a letter — a long one which he read to me — to Dr. Drake of Cincinnati, descriptive of his case. Its date would be in December, 1840, or early in January, 1841. I think that he must have informed Dr. Drake of his early love for Miss Rutledge, as there was a part of the letter which he would not read. . . I remember Dr. Drake's reply, which was, that he would not undertake to prescribe for him without a personal interview. -Joshua F. Speed, Ms letter, November 30, 1866.]

I would, therefore, conclude that Lincoln at some time did discuss with Speed his relationship with Ann prior to Lincoln writing the letter to Dr. Drake in December, 1840, or early in January, 1841.

This text from the book cited above was followed by an ironic observation from Speed about Lincoln's decision to marry Mary Todd:

In the summer of 1841 I became engaged to my wife. He was here on a visit when I courted her; and, strange to say, something of the same feeling which I regarded as so foolish in him took possession of me and kept me very unhappy from the time of my engagement until I was married. This will explain the deep interest he manifested in his letters on my account.

One thing is plainly discernible; if I had not been married and happy — far more happy than I ever expected to be — he would not have married.