Lincoln and Ann Rutledge

[Lewis Gannett]

(06-30-2014 12:48 PM)LincolnToddFan Wrote:  Hi Roger,

I found this tidbit about AL's circuit days in "Legends That Libel Lincoln" by Montgomery Lewis pg #143

".....Henry C. Whitney was a young lawyer who traveled the circuit with Lincoln, shared the same room with him in country taverns, frequently the same bed. He fully recognized Mrs. Lincoln's individual and personal shortcomings, but he believed that she was judged chiefly by these and not by her virtues which, in his own words "were hidden behind the sacred aegis of the domestic circle....but the world does not and cannot know much it is indebted to this lady that her distinguished husband's ambition was fired and stimulated to reach for the grand prize finally awarded to him, nor how much he was indebted to her for words of cheer-of hope-of comfort and solace, when all seemed dark...Lincoln thoroughly loved his wife. I had many reasons to know this in my intimacy with him, and she therefore wrought a great influence over him".

primary source "Life on the Circuit With Lincoln" Henry Whitney



[From my own knowledge and the information thus obtained, I therefore repeat, that the memory of Anne Rutledge was the saddest chapter in Mr. Lincoln's life.]///

Hi David Lockmiller,

I assume that you are quoting William Herndon with that statement above? If Herndon did say that, it's as demonstrably false as his incredible claim that Lincoln never signed his letters to Mary Todd Lincoln "affectionately". There are extant letters that prove otherwise.

The crucible of the Civil War presidency was the saddest chapter in Lincoln's life. And by Lincoln's own words, it was the loss of WILLIE LINCOLN that caused him the deepest, greatest pain he had ever known and "showed me my weakness as never before". By the way Lincoln said this to at least two people...artist Francis Bicknell Carpenter (Six Months At The White House) and army nurse Rebecca Pomroy in "Rise To Greatness: Abraham Lincoln and America's Most Perilous Year" by David Von Drehle.

I tend to believe the words from Lincoln's own mouth about which of his many personal losses hurt him most deeply, not William Herndon's guess/speculation/opinion.

Toia: Whitney also wrote, as noted somewhere above: "I think he [Lincoln] would have been very fond of a wife had he had one to suit. But I also doubt if he would have been as great a man as he was." Gene noted that Whitney doesn't have the most sterling reputation, and consistency doesn't seem to have been his strong suit. I think he had conflicted feelings about Lincoln, and mixed motives for saying various things in published accounts.