Lincoln & Herndon

[Eva Elisabeth]

(07-08-2014 10:50 AM)L Verge Wrote:  How extensive was Herndon's drinking problem?

Once (according to Donald's "We Are Lincoln Men") when Herndon and some friends drank and celebrated so wildly one night that they broke the tavern windows, Lincoln payed their fines of $100 early in the morning to keep his partner (and the others) from jail. (Don't know if Mary knew of this.)

Within their last Springfield dialogue, A. L. said: "Billy, there's one thing I have, for some time, wanted you to tell me.... I want you to tell me... how many times you have been drunk." Lincoln said nothing more on the subject, and never before did (as for "lecturing" Herndon for drunkenness).

Jesse W. Weik in "The Real Lincoln: A Portrait" wrote: "Mr. Herndon’s habits prior to 1860 were none of the best and not long after Mr. Lincoln went to Washington. Mr. Herndon went there for the purpose of seeking some high diplomatic position...While there he went on a drunken spree. Through the 60′s and in the 70′s he was addicted to the excessive use of liquor.’”

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All to be found in Donald's "Herndon":
After Lincoln left for Washington, Herndon first managed well, unless under stress. On Feb. 11, 1865, he wrote Lincoln: "I'm a sober man and will keep so the balance of my days". After Lincoln's death and several personal setbacks and misfortunes he again took to drink. John Hill, editor of Petersburg newspaper, told he went "on sprees lasting for weeks, although his friends constantly tried to sober him up", and Herndon's neighbors remembered seeing him "hauled home from town...in the back end of the wagon...they unloaded him with his jug of whiskey - he would lay up stairs drunk for a week".

Donald researched and analyzed what effect alcohol had on Herndon's mind and concluded zero. E.g. a day-by-day examination of newspaper files showed that Herndon was in constant demand for speeches or public affairs and duties, and his language was as coherent and eloquent as ever. Also his handwriting remained steady.
In 1881 Herndon stopped drinking entirely and, according to Donald, remained this till his death.


When one if his many book writing projects failed (because he had sold the "copyright" of his 1865/66 research and interview files to Lamon, who refused to sell back),

"Herndon, his hopes dashed, his projected book buried, his vision of a fortune vanished, hobbled back to his pears and his pigs - and his whiskey".

I simply enjoy reading Donald for illustrative sentences like this one (in an apart from that 100% scholarly work).

Angela, if you manage to purchase any Randall book, please let me know where/how you got it!