The Lincolns in Kentucky -Video

[RJNorton]

(06-11-2024 03:03 PM)Rob Wick Wrote:  An interesting-looking book that, unfortunately, I don't have is The Great Comeback: How Abraham Lincoln Beat the Odds to Win the 1860 Republican Nomination." Gary Ecelbarger is the author. It shows up on the Internet Archive but is unavailable for borrowing.

Rob (and everyone)...here is what Gary Ecelbarger says in the book cited by Rob:


Page 264

7. This ticket story has been considered apocryphal and too unreliable to be universally accepted in the Lincoln literature. The original source is from a letter written by Henry C. Fell (son of Jesse Fell) to his sisters on February 10, 1909 (reproduced in Luthkin, Lincoln’s First Campaign, p. 161). Although the source is a secondary one from fifty years after the fact, its accuracy should be reevaluated. It is inconceivable that the son of Jesse Fell made up the story, so the reliability lies with its originator, Jesse Fell (who must have relayed this story to his son). I have deemed this story feasible based on four premises: (1) Jesse Fell could have embellished it but would have had no reason to fabricate the entire account to his son; (2) Jesse Fell was in a position and had the skills to oversee the production of these tickets; (3) it is logical to conclude that members of the Republican State Central Committee would have taken advantage of their roles as the hosts to tweak the system in favor of the home crowd, particularly to offset what they feared were extra tickets carried by the Seward supporters; and (4) there apparently was a disproportionately large pro-Lincoln crowd in the building on Friday, which would have been the natural side effect of the additional tickets.