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| Cole Escola created an outrageous version of Mary Lincoln, but if you believe William Herndon, the real Mary Lincoln was only slightly less outrageous. ----------------------------------------- |
There are three topics that he loved to talk about most:
- Lincoln's family
- Mary Lincoln, raging maniac
- Lincoln's character
But first before I get into those things, I have to ask: was Abraham Lincoln a murderbot?
I ask because in episode six of the current Murderbot series on Apple + TV... I'll borrow the description from TV Tropes:
As Mensah calms, Murderbot says "Let's fix this," before starting to spout gibberish. Mensah notes that it's leaking — the gash in its side from the printer piece has not sealed and some liquid is still coming out. She suggests that it sit down, but it says it's fine, just a little low on lubricant, as its systems show "Emergency System Online". It starts to insist that things that would incapacitate a human wouldn't even...and then it passes out, falling flat on its face... Murderbot wakes up, with a 'check lubricant' alert being replaced by 'lubricant refreshed', and continues its sentence: "It wouldn't even affect me."
Apparently, according to Herndon, Abraham Lincoln did the same thing, as recounted in an 1870 letter to Ward Hill Lamon:
Once Lincoln got kicked at a mill and knocked crazy. Mr. Lincoln told me this: that he had to shell the corn with his hands and take it to mill on horseback, corn in one end and rocks in the other ; that he went to mill on his father's old mare ; that he "had to wait his turn to grind"; that it was getting late in the evening, he then being some two (2) miles from home, not fifty, as stated by Holland ; that he hitched in his old mare to the sweep-pole or lever that turned the wheel, and Lincoln, being in a great hurry to get through with his grist, urged up the old mare to her full speed, round and round, round and round and faster and faster; that he thought she ought to go faster and that he struck her, with a stick, saying at the same time, or intended rather to say: "Get up — you lazy old devil," and just as he struck her and got to the words which were uttered: "Get up — " the old mare protested with her heels on Lincoln's head against such treatment.
Lincoln just as he had uttered : "Get up," was kicked, knocked crazy, was picked up, carried home, came to that night, say about twelve o'clock, and that, upon coming to consciousness, Lincoln finished the sentence: "you lazy old devil."
He finished the sentence just as he intended to speak it, commencing where he left off. Lincoln told me this; and he and I used to speculate on it. The first question was: why was not the whole expression uttered ; and the second one : why finish at all? We came to the conclusion — I being somewhat of a psychologist as well as physiologist— he aiding me and I him, that the mental energy, force, had been flashed by the will on the nerves and thence on the muscles and that that energy, force, or power had fixed the muscles in the exact shape, or form, or attitude, or position, to utter those words ; that the kick shocked him, checked momentarily the action of the muscles ; and that so soon as that check was removed or counteracted by a returning flow of life and energy, force, and power in their proper channels, that the muscles fired off, as it were functioned as the nervous energy flashed there by the will through the nerves — acted automatically under a power in repose. This seemed to us to be the legitimate conclusion of things.
It find this such an amusing coincidence.
In his letters, Herndon had much to say about Lincoln's family:
About Dennis Hanks, Lincoln's first cousin once-removed:
Again, John and Dennis Hanks were very young when they left Kentucky and Indiana especially. John Hanks would state the exact truth — if he knew it. Dennis Hanks would go a mile out of his way to lie.
In spite of Hanks being a liar, Herndon seemed to believe Lincoln's father Thomas, at least partly on Dennis Hanks' testimony, had been castrated at some point in his life - either before he married Nancy Hanks, in which case Abe was not his son, or after:
Dennis Hanks told me that Thomas Lincoln, when tolerably young, and before he left Kentucky, was castrated. Abraham Enloe said, often said, that Abraham Lincoln was his child. All these facts, if facts they are, I received from different persons, at different times and places.
And Lincoln's mother Nancy Hanks was born illegitimate:
Lincoln and I had a case in the Menard circuit court which required a discussion on hereditary qualities of mind, natures, etc. Lincoln's mind was dwelling on his case, mine on something else. Lincoln all at once said: "Billy, I'll tell you something, but keep it a secret while I live. My mother was a bastard, was the daughter of a nobleman so called of Virginia. My mother's mother was poor and credulous, etc., and she was shamefully taken advantage of by the man. My mother inherited his qualities and I hers. All that I am or hope ever to be I get from my mother, God bless her.
Wikipedia provides additional confirmation.
In one letter Herndon attests that Lincoln only pooped once a week - TMI!
Herdon also wrote:
He took life easy, had no haste, no spontaneous emotion, no impulse, was sympathetic and emotional in presence of the object. I know Lincoln better than I know myself. He was so good and so odd a man, how in the hell could I help study him! Mr. Lincoln's poverty, a curse of his origin, the origin and chastity of his near and dear relations, his father's cold and inhuman treatment of him sometimes, the death of Ann Rutledge, his intense ambition, and society not energetically recognizing his greatness, etc., etc., intensified his organic melancholy.
Herndon spilled the tea about Lincoln's "infidelity" - that is to Christianity:
As to Mr. Lincoln's religious views, he was in short an infidel, was a universalist, was a unitarian, a theist. He did not believe that Jesus was God nor the son of God, etc., was a fatalist, denied the freedom of the will, wrote a book in 1834 or 5 — just after the death of Ann Rutledge, as I remember the facts as to time. He then became more melancholy, a little crazed, etc. ; [he] was always skeptical, read Volney in New Salem and other books. Samuel Hill of Menard was the man who burned up Lincoln's little infidel book. Lincoln told me a thousand times that he did not believe that the Bible, etc., were revelations of God
Later in his career Lincoln made references to God and the Bible and facets of Christianity especially in his speeches, but you have to wonder how literally he meant those things, rather than poetically.
Herndon also provides testimony that Lincoln was not quite the perfect teetotaler, which I thought he was based on other biographical sources:
It is said by some of the biographers of Lincoln that "he never drank a drop of liquor in his life" and that he never chewed nor smoked a cigar or pipe. It is not true that Lincoln "never drank a drop of liquor in his life" ; it is true that he never smoked or chewed tobacco. Mr. Lincoln did sometimes take a horn ; he played ball on the day of his nomination at Chicago in 1860 with the boys, or the day before that, and did drink beer two or three times that day and during the game or play ; he was nervous then, excited at that particular time, and drank to steady his nerves. Lincoln has been often heard to say that "I never drink much and am entitled to no credit therefor, because I hate the stuff." A friend once asked Lincoln this question : "Don't you like liquor, Lincoln ?" and to which L. replied : "No, it is unpleasant to me and always makes me feel flabby and undone."
Herndon's recollection of the Lincoln marriage seems very believable:
You wish to know more about Lincoln's domestic life. The history of it is a sad, sad one, I assure you. Many and many a time I have known Lincoln to come down to our office, say at 7 a.m., sometimes bringing with him his then young son Bob. Our office was on the west side of the public square and upstairs. The door that entered our office was, the up half, of glass, with a curtain on the inside made of calico. When we did not wish anyone to see inside, we let down the curtain on the inside. Well, I say, many and many a time have I known Lincoln to come down to our office, sometimes Bob with him, with a small lot of cheese, crackers, and "bologna" sausages under his arm ; he would not speak to me, for he was full of sadness, melancholy, and I suppose of the devil; he would draw out the sofa, sit down on it, open his breakfast, and divide between Bob and himself. I would as a matter of course know that Lincoln was driven from home, by a club, knife, or tongue, and so I would let down the curtain on the inside, go out, and lock the door behind me, taking the key out and with me. I would stay away, say an hour, and then I would go into the office on one pretense or another, and if Lincoln did not then speak, I did as before, go away, etc. In the course of another hour I would go back, and if Lincoln spoke, I knew it was all over, i.e., his fit of sadness, etc. Probably he would say something or I would, and then he would say : "Billy, that puts me in mind of a story," he would tell it, walk up and down the room, laughing the while, and now the dark clouds would pass off his withered and wrinkled face and the God-blessed sunshine of happiness would light up those organs o'er which the emotions of that good soul played their gentle dance and chase. Friend, I can see all this now acting before me and am sad.
It wasn't only Herndon who had unflattering things to say about Mary Lincoln. John Hay used to say terrible things about her in his diary when he was living at the White House as Lincoln's personal assistant. I wrote about Mary Lincoln a while ago.
Hay and Nicholay wrote a massive series of books about Lincoln, and Herndon seems disgruntled over their claim that Josuah Speed was "the only intimate friend that Lincoln ever had."
Hay and Nicolay say in the January number of the Century substantially this : that Speed was the only intimate friend that Lincoln ever had, and that Speed and Lincoln poured out their souls to each other. Possibly I do not understand what they mean by the word intimate. If they mean to say that Lincoln had no friends, after Speed, to whom he poured out his soul, then it may be true, but the question comes: Did he pour out his soul to Speed? Lincoln's nature was secretive, it was reticent, it was "hush." Did Lincoln violate that whole nature? He may have opened to Speed in one direction under conditions. He was courting Miss Todd and Speed was — well — you can guess. These facts brought the two close together, and on the love question alone Lincoln opened to Speed possibly the whole. Did Lincoln tell Speed his love scrapes with Ann Rutledge as well as others? He did not. See Speed's letter to me in Lamon's Life of Lincoln. . . . Still another question comes : Did Lincoln and Speed or either of them open the facts, their minds, to Hay and Nicolay about the intimate friendship? Who authorizes H. and N. to assert what they do assert? How do H. and N. know that Lincoln and Speed poured out their souls to one another? If to tell a friend some facts in one line or direction constitutes intimate friendship, then Lincoln always, before and after Speed left Illinois, had intimate friends, and if Lincoln's refusal to tell all the secrets of his soul to any man shows a want of intimate friendship, then Lincoln never had an intimate friend. Poetry is no fit place for severe history. I think the truth is just here, namely, that under peculiar conditions and under lines of love and in that direction they were intimate friends. No man pours out his whole soul to any man ; he keeps millions of secrets in his own bosom, with himself and God alone ; he would keep them secret from God if he could. Such broad assertions as H. and N.'s are lies and nothing less. Did H. and N. enter Lincoln's and Speed's minds and read the story? Nonsense. Let us keep shy of poetry or poetical license in our book, if we can.
The movie "Lover of Men," released in the past year, claims that Joshua Speed and Lincoln were lovers, and the reason Lincoln freaked out so much on "the fatal first" of January 1841 was because Speed was going back to Kentucky to get married.
It's a pretty good movie but they had a certain story they wanted to tell, so left out evidence of Lincoln's heterosexual inclinations, like his relationship with Ann Rutledge.
They also left out the story told by Speed to Herndon, that Lincoln asked him, Speed (a lady's man according to Herndon,) for a letter of introduction to give to a prostitute so he could "get some" - although the story goes that Lincoln didn't have five dollars on him when he went to see the prostitute and so rather than owe her two bucks, he put his clothes back on and went home. Which doesn't sound like he was all that enthusiastic about heterosexuality.
Herndon frequently refers to Lincoln as being a closed book. It does seem a plausible solution to the mystery: Lincoln had erotic feelings for men, especially Joshua Speed, but couldn't very well go around telling people that Speed was the love of his life, and still expect to be elected to any office. So he avoided talking much about his deepest feelings.
Herndon adored Lincoln, but he did have some complaints about him on a personal level: he complained that Lincoln liked to read newspapers aloud, and he complained that he let his sons run wild:
He, Lincoln, used to come down to our office on a Sunday when Mrs. Lincoln had gone to church, to show her new bonnet, leaving Lincoln to care for and attend to the children. Lincoln would turn Willie and Tad loose in our office, and they soon gutted the room, gutted the shelves of books, rifled the drawers, and riddled boxes, battered the points of my gold pens against the stairs, turned over the inkstands on the papers, scattered letters over the office, and danced over them and the like. I have felt a many a time that I wanted to wring the necks of these brats and pitch them out of the windows, but out of respect for Lincoln and knowing that he was abstracted, I shut my mouth, bit my lips, and left for parts unknown.