Lincoln and Ann Rutledge

[L Verge]

We had a very interesting program yesterday at Surratt House with Christy Coleman, CEO of the American Civil War Museum in Richmond presenting a program on Love, Sex, and Consequences during the Civil War. No, it was not a porn program - more of a 19th-century sex education class.

One point that impressed me (which I had never read about) was the fact that many "marriages" of the lower- and middle-classes were not signed, sealed, and delivered with the permission of the church. People formed attachments for a variety of reasons and lived their lives together to suit themselves, not society. Only the upper-class worried about mores, and that was largely due to the concerns of having legal heirs to family lands and fortunes. It brought up in my mind the question of Nancy Hanks's position in life.

The reason I posted this under Ann Rutledge, however, is that we had one elderly gentleman in the audience who wanted to convince everyone that Ann was the true love of Lincoln's life and that Mary Todd was a shrew. Ms. Coleman (and I) made some cogent comments about Mary's traits and personality that would have attracted young Lincoln, but he was having none of it. Christy even made the comment that Lincoln had a deep, emotional personality that would cause him to be attracted to wide varieties of people (male and female) without the result being long and lasting devotion and sexual involvement.