Lincoln and Ann Rutledge

[Lewis Gannett]

David quotes Herndon: "I never became acquainted with [Mr. Lincoln] till his second race for the Legislature in 1834." Herndon's Life of Lincoln, Da Capo paperback, 1983, page 73.

David quotes me: "It's worth keeping in mind that New Salem was a tiny village, and nearby Springfield was a dusty little market town. Gossip moves fast in such locales. Why did it take Herndon thirty years to learn about a pivotal episode in his hero's youth?"

David asks: "Why did not Lincoln's new law partner in Springfield know about this episode in Lincoln's life if it was common gossip in Sringfield? Or, the man who was shortly to become his best friend, Joshua Speed? (Speed wrote back that "It was news to him" after Herndon sent him a copy of the Ann Rutledge lecture.) Or, how about Judge Logan or Judge David Davis? Were they all part of Herndon's "devious" conspiracy? I supremely doubt it!"

David, you quote Herndon saying that he met Lincoln in 1834. Ann Rutledge died in 1835. Why didn't Herndon hear about Lincoln's reaction to her death, if it was a major tragedy in Lincoln's life? The logical answer: it wasn't a major tragedy in Lincoln's life. Which would explain why Speed, Logan, Davis, & others in Springfield never heard about the episode until Herndon's lecture decades later, in 1866. Something disturbing did happen to Lincoln in New Salem in late summer 1835. Some New Salem residents concluded that Lincoln was grieving for Ann. But most did not. If you look at all the interviews Herndon and his associates conducted with former New Salem-area residents, as collected in Herndon's Informants, the majority of the people interviewed never brought up the subject of Ann Rutledge at all. Hannah Armstrong, for example, who knew Lincoln well: she never mentioned the subject of a doomed love affair with Ann. The point is that the historical reality of the Rutledge story is very much open to doubt. So, why is it a big deal in Lincoln history? THAT'S the question! The other question is: What happened to Abraham Lincoln in New Salem the late summer of 1835? We still don't really know.