Lincoln's Gamble: The Tumultuous Six Months that Gave America the Emancipation

[Eva Elisabeth]

Welcome Todd! I second Linda - I'm looking forward to your book. I also just wanted to post the same as Linda did, respectively a summary of the thread. Here it goes:

On Aug.20, a member posted the following quote from M. Burlingame's "Abraham Lincoln: A Life,” Vol. II:
"On January 1, 1863, after Lincoln spent a sleepless night, his wife, who (according to her eldest son) ‘was very much opposed to the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation,’ inquired ‘in her sharp way, 'Well, what do you intend doing?'’ He replied: ‘I am under orders, I cannot do otherwise.’”
We have since been discussing the reliability of this quote the source of which reads as follows:
"Robert Todd Lincoln told this to Mrs. Florence Weston Stanley. Mrs. Florence Weston Stanley to Dwight C. Sturges, [Needham, Massachusetts?], 7 February 1935, Christian Science Monitor , 12 February 1935."
...respectively the degree of aquaintance Mrs. Florence Weston Stanley had with Robert Lincoln. Forum member David Lockmiller found the letter she wrote to Mr. Sturges, which Linda posted above.

We drew a blank wherever we wanted to find out more about Mrs. Florence Weston Stanley's relationship to Robert (and Robert was known for being reluctant to comment on his parents, even burned their correspondence) and on the reliability of her claim. Roger and Laurie even contacted Robert Lincoln expert Jason Emerson, who didn't know more either (see post #87):
http://rogerjnorton.com/LincolnDiscussio...age-6.html

Linda in her research found that the letter is thematized in your book:
http://rogerjnorton.com/LincolnDiscussio...age-5.html

May I, too, kindly ask if you could comment on this, or if we find some light shed on this lady in your book? Many thanks for any hint or comment!