Summer Book Section
John Evangelist Walsh. The Shadows Rise: Abraham Lincoln and the Ann Rutledge Legend. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1993. Pp. 187 with notes, bibliography, photographs and index. $25.95 (cloth). John Walsh begins The Shadows Rise with a description of how Lincoln's former law partner William Herndon gathered information for his biography of the president, published in 1889. Herndon's interviews with former New Salem residents brought to light Lincoln's first love affair with Ann Rutledge, a relationship doomed by her death in 1835. In a public lecture in Springfield in 1866 Herndon initially presented his findings, which he then printed and distributed. Herndon's papers, now in the Library of Congress, form the bulk of the documentation for the Lincoln-Rutledge story. James G. Randall, the foremost Lincoln scholar of his time, examined the Herndon-Weik papers in 1945 and concluded in his own Lincoln biography two years later that the Rutledge affair was "unproved" because its only basis was testimony recorded long after the fact. He believed this event should not be included in Lincoln's official story and thereby effectively removed the Rutledge matter from mainstream Lincoln scholarship for almost fifty years. In 1990, however, John Y. Simon of Southern Illinois University - Carbondale and Douglas Wilson of Knox College published articles that demonstrated the historical reality of the basic legend.
Photo by Charles Swearingen Walsh's study the first book on the subject takes this analysis to its next logical step and analyzes the testimony in depth. Four chapters of The Shadows Rise are devoted to identifying the people interviewed and discussing their testimony in detail. Three examples are particularly persuasive: Isaac Cogdal's testimony, the Rutledge family testimony and the William Marsh letter.
Isaac Cogdal lived in Rock Creek Precinct north of New Salem. Lincoln and Cogdal had known each other since 1831. Lincoln invited Cogdal to visit him before he left Springfield to assume the presidency in 1861. A portion of Lincoln friend and biographer Ward Hill Lamon's 1872 account of this visit follows: "After we had talked of people and circumstances," said Cogdal, "in which he showed a wonderful memory, I then dared to ask him this question Is it true that you fell in love with and courted Ann Rutledge?" "It is true true indeed. I did. I have loved the name of Rutledge to this day." "Abe, is it true," urged Cogdal, "that you ran a little wild about this matter?" "I did really. I ran off the track. It was my first. I loved the woman dearly... I did honestly and truly love the girl, and think often, often of her now." 32/July 1994/Illinois Issues Why would Cogdal ask about such a personal matter when Ann had been dead for 25 years? Walsh says that people in the Springfield area knew of the relationship between Lincoln and Ann and of the fact that he "ran off the track" after her death. In light of Lincoln's status as president-elect, it was natural that people would be concerned about him. Walsh suggests that Cogdal was able to allay their fears after talking to his old friend. Many members of the Rutledge family, including Ann's mother and six siblings, were still living in 1865 when Hemdon was conducting his research. Robert Rutledge, Ann's younger brother, responded to Hemdon's initial request for information after consulting with other family members and neighbors. He even suggested that Hemdon favor the testimony least open to doubt if he found contradictions. The Rutledges' testimony is especially convincing since it seems that they took extra care to be accurate and resisted the urge to embellish their answers. In the 1920s William Barton, a Lincoln scholar, gained access through the famous Lincoln collector Oliver Barrett to a letter written by Matthew Marsh of New Salem in September 1835, about three weeks after Ann's death. It refers to Lincoln's behavior during this period: "The Post Master Mr. Lincoln is very careless about leaving his office open and unlocked during the day half the time I go in and get my paper, etc., without anyone being there as was the case yesterday. The letter was only marked 25 & even if he had been there & known it was double, he would not [have] charged me any more luckily he is a very clever fellow and a particular friend of mine. If he is there when I carry this to the office I will get him to 'frank' it " To Barton, this passage shows that Lincoln was able to go about his daily routine at the time and was not deeply affected by Ann's death. Walsh demonstrates convincingly that the opposite is true, that Lincoln's grief contributed to the noticeable lapse in his performance of his duties. Other testimony about Lincoln's life at New Salem confirms that as a rule Lincoln was a conscientious, trustworthy person who would not leave the mails untended or abuse his franking privilege (a criminal offense). The appellation "Honest Abe" developed at New Salem. Walsh concludes, "The grocery clerk who closed his shop and walked six miles to return an overcharge of a few pennies, or who took another long walk to deliver four ounces of tea mistakenly withheld from a buyer, is not the man described by Matthew Marsh." Working from such evidence, Walsh successfully proves that Abraham Lincoln and Ann Rutledge had indeed loved each other, as their friends and Ann's family testified. When Ann died in her youth, Lincoln was distraught for some time and remained emotionally withdrawn for several months. He eventually lost much of his earlier zest for life. Although, like many others who suffer great personal loss, Lincoln recovered and went on to marry as well as to enjoy a successful, productive career, perhaps it is not unusual for his lost love to have been remembered and idealized over the years. Walsh's analysis provides a fuller perspective on this early phase of Lincoln's romantic life than we have had to date, although whether it represents the last word on this controversial subject remains to be seen. Cheryl Schnirring is curator of manuscripts at the Illinois State Historical Library. She has been a volunteer interpreter at New Salem since 1980. July 1994/Illinois Issues/33
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