“Not Even Wrong”: Herndon and His Informants

The great theoretical physicist Wolfgang Pauli excelled at demanding exactitude in thought and written expression. His dislike for poorly reasoned papers or obtuse writing that obscured meaning was famously noted by his colleagues. Often, theoretical papers were so densely written that it was impossible to prove or disprove their premise.

Rudolf Peierls, a friend and colleague of Pauli, remembered showing Pauli a paper written by a young physicist. Pauli read the paper and expressed his frustration to Peierls by stating, “It is not even wrong.” To a large degree, Pauli’s phrase captures the long, colorful, and continuing debate over William H. Herndon and the information he collected.

How historians have selectively used Herndon’s interviews about Lincoln is best captured by Jean Baker’s claim that Herndon is “every Lincoln scholar’s reserve army-available to make a point when he agrees with whatever conclusion we wish to establish, but having been so often discredited, easily dismissed when we disagree.” If one looks beyond historians for advice, another astrophysicist, Carl Sagan quipped, “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.”1Herndon, like fashion, has had extended periods of popularity followed by long periods of neglect. We are currently in an appreciation phase resulting from the prodigious research, careful editing, and scholarship of Rodney Davis and Douglas Wilson. Through their publication of a scholarly edition of Herndon’s research materials, generally referred to by the short title Herndon’s Informants, Herndon’s findings have been made readily assessable to a wide audience of academics and writers.

It has become an indispensable reference work for any basic Lincoln library. In providing transcriptions of Herndon’s almost indecipherable hand, the problem of access is solved but other problems remain.2The traditional understanding of the Herndon problem is threefold. First is the problem of memory and recollected facts.

Second is how writers have responded to Herndon’s motives for seeking recollections. The final issue is the attempts to establish criteria for sifting the wheat from the chaff in Herndon’s letters, interviews, and statements about Abraham Lincoln. Ultimately, this last problem dovetails with the first: is memory alone a reliable primary source or does it require independent verification by a contemporary document or artifact?

It is worth examining each of these areas briefly before asking the obvious question of what comes next.Like any good lawyer-and Herndon was certainly an accomplished one-he sought out the facts. At first confident he could write a portrait of Abraham Lincoln based on his own decades-long relationship, Herndon soon discovered that there was more to his friend and colleague than met the eye. Writing to Josiah G.

Holland, a reporter and early Lincoln biographer, Herndon asserted, “I have ‘been down’ to Menard County where Mr. L first landed and where he first made his home in old Sangamon. . . . From such an investigation-from records-from friends-old deeds & surveys &c &c I am satisfied, in Connection with my own Knowledge of Mr.

L for 30 years, that Mr Ls whole Early life remains to be written.” Herndon was not the first writer to seek out information and recollections about the sixteenth president. William Dean Howells employed a young lawyer, James Quay Howard, to talk to Lincoln’s associates and gather information for a popular 1860 campaign biography. Howard’s notes for Howells are at the Library of Congress and were transcribed and published in David Mearns’s The Lincoln Papers.

An author for young adults, William Makepeace Thayer, claimed to have interviewed numerous family members and friends from Lincoln’s early life for an 1863 published biography, The Pioneer Boy and How He Became President. Seeking to protect the identity and confidentiality of what was related in those interviews, Thayer frequently presented information without specifying sources, and invented dialogue for Lincoln and his friends based on the claims of his sources. The location of these interviews and notes remains a mystery.

Josiah G. Holland provided yet another collection of interviews about Lincoln. Released in the aftermath of Lincoln’s assassination, Holland’s biography portrayed Lincoln as a martyr to freedom with all the virtues of a good Christian.

Such plaster saint portraits angered Herndon. No good could come from presenting a false front when contradicting facts could be readily obtained. As Herndon wrote to a young law student and admirer, Charles Henry Hart, “I know human nature, hide a mouse in a crack, and shade it, and it will in the minds of men-grow and expand into an Elephant.”3If the light shed by honest facts was the best dispeller of shadowy myths, Herndon also knew that he had a difficult task in obtaining facts-flattering and sordid alike-to present a true portrait of Lincoln.

Herndon justified his approach, claiming, “Sacred lies will not protect us. Hence as Mr Lincoln’s friend I propose to sink and cut a counter mine.” He continued, “I propose to throw overboard in other words all things now & avoid the whale & the shark. . . . Suppose all these things-Lincoln’s faults magnified by time through a want of the exact truth at the right moment-mankind in time & during the ages would magnify them out to immense dimensions and pray-who would be at fault- . . .

Lincoln’s friends or who? Why Lincoln’s friends, who know the truth & told it not. Mr Lincoln has bitter enemies-bitter deeply & thoroughly malicious ones and they are I know biding their time.

I propose to cut and clip that by telling how all things are, so that no future lie will have any Effect on mankind.”4 As a fellow soldier with Lincoln in the fierce Illinois political battles, Herndon knew that political animosities were long-lived and score settling could erupt at any moment. The Civil War only underscored the political divide. Better to place the liabilities of Lincoln’s past in plain sight and put the best face on the most indelicate facts.Herndon cannot be faulted for what he did not know about historical research methodology.

In the United States, the first PhD in history was not awarded until 1876. Most of the early historians were trained in the German methods best exemplified by Leopold von Ranke. Henry Adams, one of the first in the United States to earn a doctorate in history, steeped himself in the primary sources of the time by reading letters, public documents, court records, newspapers, and other source materials and employing professional historical methods to portray the past with “objective truth.”5 Because later professional historians followed patterns of discovering historical truth similar to the way lawyers argue for legal truths, we can assume Herndon understood and employed many of the same basic approaches in his research.

Herndon examined court cases that he and Lincoln argued, often replacing original documents in the case file in Lincoln’s hand with a “true” copy in Herndon’s hand. He frequently cites newspaper entries, although the number of sources he consulted, how systematic he was in examining titles, and how complete the newspapers runs available to him were remain unknown. Also unclear is the extent to which he consulted public data such as tax records, land deeds, county commissioner records, and the minutes of the various boards and commissions on which Lincoln served.

Thus it is possible that Herndon often had better research intentions than results.If Herndon realized that his own knowledge of Lincoln was insufficient to write the kind of biography he thought was required, he also began to question those things he thought he knew. In the Herndon-Weik biography of Lincoln, Herndon described his recollection of the appearance of the steamboat Talisman on the Sangamon River at Bogue’s Mill. An inquisitive teenager at the time, Herndon later recalled, “I remember the occasion well, for two reasons: It was my first sight of a steamboat, and also the first time I ever saw Mr.

Lincoln-although I never became acquainted with him till his second race for the Legislature in 1834.”6 But Herndon’s later doubts about this incident never made it into the biography. In a letter to Jesse Weik, his collaborator, Herndon questioned his memory. Herndon cautioned, “Be sure that Lincoln came all the way up to Bogue’s Mill.

It seems to me that he did and that, I at the time, saw Lincoln. . . . If L came up to Bogues Mill I saw Lincoln & if he did not then I did not see him.”7 Was this simply a case of Herndon being overly cautious or does it point to the larger problem of using memory as a primary source?Previous assumptions likened memory to a photographic snapshot of a unique event. Like all photographic images, the print fades over time, the image becomes less distinct, and the details become blurred.

This snapshot metaphor seemed useful, since we all have seen how time ravages memory. We remember where we were when we that was but have no memory of during the of if details become the basic and of the the to the of memory as a for understanding the The has to the recollection to to the truth in the of unclear or memory is not like an old It is the of into the of a of facts. as has is more and it an is not but being As the now know that we not the way a work We from and We then or than of in the of we on or even knowledge we the In other we of the past by to them or knowledge we the has in the of in It is no that is now the for or over which almost are by are also of the problem of memory and to of a This is an to to details of things they saw than have the a of facts to memory is not but being from information by the one can readily the As Charles of memory can make it The information from which an memory is be more or less but it to be to the of the present and and can in at The be and but does not about the past can only be at the of the to the in and a or in the of But it is impossible to out the present in the It is also impossible to other information since the time of the original from of the memory. the or we to remember are as is a than in minds are in the of history into and which In memory as expressed in recollections is more than historians have It is by as a reliable source for the to Herndon’s recollections and those of his was not based on about the of memory. the of the claims being made public through memory became the source of Herndon’s early public on Lincoln were until he the Lincoln. and that Lincoln with all his and Herndon used Lincoln’s at the of to Lincoln never another As David was on his he was to put Lincoln’s right in the of the In Herndon did not the The newspapers did not of the and many of his associates thought he the of in on Lincoln’s to sink a of his Lincoln, of the to in early to on Herndon. In it is that was to Herndon on using his in the larger biography of his Most saw the as an on Lincoln, and to Herndon that in of his good Herndon his As in a letter to I is that be published by which careful will to to my which I am sure not wish to history, that Herndon his words there is no Herndon been more in his biography of Lincoln published in the aftermath of his he would have written a best But a of Lincoln’s law As Herndon’s in his law Charles his law in his own Herndon’s in William Herndon the Sangamon to the of a similar to or Herndon all his this Herndon the of but never realized the of and to make a In the Herndon was in to his for only made an of Herndon to his Lincoln research notes for to another legal has been written about the publication of of Abraham Lincoln from to His as President. the and the of for the of to the biography. was the of a who as James The out what to be a Lincoln biography was of a and The biography often used materials that Herndon has to from the final the first time the about which Herndon had been for in his to David now in their of Lincoln’s Lincoln’s the of in the Lincoln Lincoln’s in by to be a Christian. the was on Lincoln the and the of Abraham Lincoln was a a Lincoln to a number of his associates to have them in and that he as The was so thoroughly by of Herndon’s source materials that other associates to Lincoln who were writing their own of the sixteenth of Herndon’s To a large degree, these on Lincoln’s an in which Herndon’s materials are and biography became a to avoid recollection and their findings on documents and Herndon’s to portray the of Lincoln with Jesse met a similar to that of Herndon and in Herndon’s Lincoln has been It is not the Herndon would have written about his law but one that he to write for of Herndon’s original of interviews, often to using the transcriptions in biography the of the was difficult to Herndon’s on the of the Herndon and access in the case of who was on a biography of Lincoln. would complete two Lincoln through the before his own the from Lincoln’s that the of the Herndon materials seemed to in the the of came in the of the of Lincoln by of the Abraham Lincoln and James at the of that Herndon’s own as as those he from were of information for Lincoln also were of the and sources were not to documents information in time. be for in the of that the of of the information could be independent But so of it was beyond such As for can one prove or disprove that Lincoln told Herndon that his was an that Herndon certainly not a and only on would Herndon a Herndon’s for and the of his to statements only is that Herndon he knew Lincoln to his and In of various the for of Herndon’s own when Herndon a as of his own it generally be without when his is based on the and recollections of the of be when what he is the of had best be by independent if independent is not more than any other made Lincoln an research the His own on Lincoln an early for and the many he on to professional was a writer in own the first biography of Lincoln. a the in of Lincoln the the the Abraham Lincoln and Like but he so is it comes through the of many continued, of it be but a careful writer will it with facts. as to what is to be are in insufficient statements or as were of the about Lincoln and for careful If are but only of them that is a are the resulting becomes other than it is no to be presented as a the for Herndon and his David most wrote what remains an and biography of William H.

Herndon. Herndon’s to understanding of Lincoln, was of from recollections. This historians of the problems of memory and to less sources such as original and public Writing at the time the Abraham Lincoln was the of all of Lincoln’s historians were to of materials with the of the Lincoln at the Library of Congress in and with the publication of The of Abraham Lincoln in would be to that Herndon from Lincoln scholarship during this If recollections were they could be through other independent sources, a that the by and This was questioned by in a that the of history is not a in which facts be a that recollections a of to their in historical research.

Douglas on in recollected that the information is of of and of the of the and the was in a to know what to through the of Herndon’s notes to facts that were being of the of memory. He the of these criteria be understood as things can be does not can be can be It that in the case of Lincoln’s early one does not have the of with only the most reliable of We are by the of the to of with what is at his in the of recollected materials, historians to it as if it were about the of recollected and his published a of Abraham Lincoln. a of remembered Lincoln from his friends, and the criteria to each criteria by Douglas Wilson. An was to an the same it or of when Lincoln’s words were a as the recollections the Most of the of or to the problem of memory.

Because memory is so the a unique problem in historical historians began to Lincoln’s life with recollected sources, were to the as and a of all recollected sources. David briefly and with to the in his biography of a was on examining the recollected for the many in the statements to it as an event. reading David confident to assume his original the of the in on how his about Herndon since his “I was young when I wrote it and was readily by Herndon’s claim of great with Lincoln. a have more claims are by those of recollected that as an early of history, recollections are and that Lincoln’s early life is primary sources, recollections to the But recollection is not history, at not the kind history has and Herndon followed as demanding as in his interviews or providing or even The second claim is as Herndon to the primary sources available to are as In the before Lincoln became is the great for Lincoln with The Lincoln historians the problem of access by the most of Lincoln’s legal that is The information in this collection has yet to be The of Abraham Lincoln will historians access to a larger of documents than the original of Abraham Lincoln, which provided transcriptions of only of Lincoln’s his public and his to published was the which often the in all Lincoln is the findings at Lincoln’s in the of the past is made of the and reliable memory of who in as a and later provided as to the of the in the a of how could remember details so and all these my has the by frequently having it to Douglas on this and many of Herndon’s and for of their about Lincoln as a young the by frequently having it to them would a more than and with the this been with the that was being at the same time of his research, would have discovered that was right about only is the of in the many of the but also large of are not even on based on those with to Lincoln’s early on the of how early recollections of the of the on the and in the and the work of which work had for many of the in knew that the was on the of the home of one of and that the was at the of the original which was an in the information about the he and then the a a to No one thought it that the the of one of of the most findings at in the of a the of Lincoln’s Most published the of Lincoln’s by the and later at public based the on the recollection of a friend of Lincoln. But the legal document of the has long been available to I first became in Lincoln’s the question of his early I that one of the of the that does not are the from the these being a and in and Lincoln was never to own a home in I that the was written But there was no way to for Lincoln’s of when the of only up to problems were with a of legal documents, and with the of The of Abraham Lincoln, I that the was not in the of Abraham Lincoln would be in his at Charles recollections a claim that he in with Abraham Lincoln and that they a to it, where the now that is If is used to the of on the with on there is to to for and The also of that to the early when Lincoln was for and later with of the great was discovering an information is from recollections and that Lincoln as as as as a that could be used as a Lincoln used it for that or as to it is an to the portrait of Lincoln presented in recollections.

This is the in Herndon’s research on Lincoln’s early as as that almost on recollections to the early Lincoln. Herndon to all primary sources available to him on all of Lincoln’s his for his and he never discovered and of the in how primary sources can better for recollections. in a the and documents an Lincoln’s The was to and all of about or any of the popular of the Mr. Lincoln’s was final to in that of his and The in the about their and race at for the of the first for the of the second and for the of the one can see a of was to these on historians have was one of Lincoln’s paper meaning that Lincoln’s is the only of the Lincoln and his of on the Sangamon River in Menard the was of the of in Illinois during the land in a was an on there was no sure for the and the was in a most and great many being and at this time, up to many of It was on the and with available to the Sangamon also a until The of a of political from the and many with such as James Adams, and The and Sangamon would have a on the had it been first I had to as an place of was the to the Lincoln at the Abraham Lincoln Library of a to the Sangamon County the of an in the of of to Lincoln and document of newspapers an in the on seeking a for But the was the where with of of of the were with of and of the can easily that the not only who the and but also as similar to the of a where could the and be to a of and newspaper that a would place on that of and were for of as an is but how does it understanding of one looks at Lincoln’s the of Lincoln’s in land the Sangamon River the the only he ever for the The of the is Lincoln’s for the of recollections Lincoln as in an the a young on the his to Lincoln sought to establish a his never cannot be history as currently This of the recollection with history is in of Herndon’s careful to with how to to this is seen in the numerous approaches for recollections. attempts to information from remembered facts counter to research that on of that the a of an the is that the and a of an event.

The to information it to the memory of the event. As it is impossible to know an recollection is described or by another or even a of all of This is not the of will or It is simply how the in No can all the of memory without on primary sources independent of the This is materials without primary sources will be even claim that Lincoln’s early life cannot be written without on recollections becomes a without a to and and historical on Lincoln’s life these research to The of and the of Lincoln’s early life are only now being As documents and findings to knowledge of Abraham Lincoln’s early they also to and It will be with primary sources than criteria that historians from Herndon’s