Herndon on Lincoln: Letters

[Rob Wick]

Steve,

It's interesting to me that we approach the topics from different sides. I've always accepted that Herndon got the wedding story wrong (although one has to wonder why Elizabeth Edwards would say it) and that he was, generally speaking, correct on Ann Rutledge. When Lewis Gannett and I were discussing Tripp's book, he often pointed out what he believed to be the fallacy of the Rutledge story. Yet, in a number of instances in our discussions, he misread and mischaracterized some of the evidence. I personally grew to like Lewis (who's grandfather, also named Lewis, was book review editor of the New York Herald Tribune), but I could never escape the fact that he had an agenda in his work.

Add to that John Y. Simon's piece on Ann Rutledge, including the discovery of the article in the Menard Axis, and I think it's about as certain as one can make it that Ann and Lincoln had a relationship. As I've often stated, I don't think she was the only woman Lincoln loved, but I do think he "went off the rails" after her death.

I am in complete agreement with your point that each story has to be judged on its own merits. Even Herndon's most ardent current defenders admit that he got things wrong. But not near as much as his critics charge.

Best
Rob