The Jefferson Lemen Compact - Was it True

[Eva Elisabeth]

Re.: "Second, I do not see this letter as proof of an acquaintance, let alone a friendship, between Lincoln and Lemen."

Same here. Probably every Tom, ***** and Harry in the city and state wrote the Republican candidate from Springfield - that's why Nicolay got the job in early June. His daughter Helen wrote: "My father, Mr. Lincoln's sole attendant, sat, when other duties did not engage him, at a desk toward one corner, answering in longhand such letters addressed to the candidate as required replied. They came in what seemed to the young man unconscionable numbers - as many as fifty a day at first; later, seven or eighty."

And a close friend, especially from the same city, would unlikely write - he'd just come along.