New book coming out exploring if Lincoln was gay.

[L Verge]

(04-21-2019 01:23 PM)Anita Wrote:  

(04-21-2019 08:04 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  

(04-21-2019 06:32 AM)LincolnMan Wrote:  What new information could be included?

Perhaps not new to everyone, but I recently read something that was new to me. I always thought Lincoln and Speed shared the same bed in the room above Speed's store because that was the only bed up there. But I am pretty sure I (of late) read that there was another bed, yet Speed and Lincoln didn't use it. Am I imagining this or has anyone else read the bed the two men shared was not the only bed in the attic? I cannot remember where I read that there was a second bed.

I would think that if there were another bed up there it would likely give more ammunition to those folks who believe Lincoln was not straight.

I recall reading that there was another area in the loft but Speed told Lincoln to share his room being that it was large and had a double bed. If there was a scond bed I imagine a cot or something far less comfortable and too short. I am still searching for the source.

Have any of the authors who are attempting to find new things to say about Lincoln considered the fact most bedrooms in the colder climes of the U.S. were very cold places from probably mid-September to early-June? Some regular bedrooms may have had fireplaces, but fires were allowed to die down while one was sleeping. Surratt House shows a soap stone bed warmer that was kept on the hearth during the day and used to warm the sheets before one hopped in bed.

Bedrooms that did not have fireplaces may have had flue covers in chimneys that ran up through that room. Covers could be removed for the flow of heat from below. (Some of the covers were beautiful art and are collectibles today.) My family's home place had such a system -- three fireplaces downstairs, so three of the five bedrooms had a flue going up to the three chimneys. When I was young, we depended on coal-burning stoves in the three downstairs rooms, so heat was still transmitted upwards to the bedrooms. No furnace heat until the 1950s. https://www.ebay.com/b/Collectible-Flue-...bn_2311596

My point is that Lincoln and his bed fellows may have just been seeking warmth on cold nights in the Midwest. And, no, I can't explain reasons for sleeping together on warm nights (such as the tales about the Summer White House), but is just plain companionship and someone to talk to ever considered?