LINCOLN con't. next column LINCOLN con't. next column
LINCOLN con't. p. 37
LINCOLN continued LINCOLN continued
William H. Herndon, Esq., my lifelong friend and
law partner, gave me this handsome leatherbound
book as a gift in the expectation that I
will use it for the keeping of a presidential diary.
I am genuinely pleased and flattered, but also
somewhat conflicted by the prospect of penning
my thoughts into your empty pages with some
sort of regularity. Do I have the discipline?
Do I really want to do this? I do not know.
Mother thinks it is a good idea. I wonder! As a
country lawyer I have learned that many men
get to regret what they have penned on paper.
Indiscreet or inaccurate words can wound and
hurt and offend greatly - the truth so often hurts.
Candor can be a curse. Will I have the time to do
justice to this idea? Herndon thinks history will
deserve to know my inner thoughts. I doubt it!
His rationale is that I am no longer A.
Lincoln, practicing lawyer, but A. Lincoln
soon-to-be President of these
United States at a time of
great peril. He thinks future
historians will value my
having committed to writing
down private thoughts and
plans. I have my doubts! The
Good Book may give me a clue
as to whether or not all this
makes sense. I will see.”
The entries continue along
with the presidential journey
into the Civil War while Dunn’s
“Author’s Notes” provide the
context, the setting and the
facts illustrating the days
of our beloved Lincoln. As
the pages turn, the reader
becomes immersed in
the fascinating journey of
events, dreams, and moods
of the day. Dunn explains,
“Experiencing a lot of death
in his family as his girlfriend,
sister, and mother died when
he was young, Lincoln was
melancholy. Experiencing
many dreams, Lincoln shared
one from the White House,
wherein he dreamed he was
in a room and everybody was
crying; it was dark, and there
was a coffin in the room. When
he asked what was going on,
they told him, ‘Abe Lincoln
was shot.’ He actually had
that dream about a year and a
half before his assassination!
Of note, Lincoln’s wife was a
dream enthusiast who read
into dreams and embraced
divination while suffering
from depression in the death
of her two children.”
In similar straits after
losing his dear wife, Dunn
found himself alone with all
of this time on his hands.
Formerly partnering with
his wife Betty Jane known as
B.J., Dunn and B.J. wrote a
couple of golf books together.
One entitled Great Donald Ross: Golf Courses
Everyone Can Play required researching almost
400 golf courses. When it came time to write
another book, he thought, “I love Lincoln. I’d
like to write about him!”
To his surprise, Dunn discovered that there
are more books written about Lincoln, around
19,000, than there are about Jesus Christ. After
contacting the Lincoln Library in Springfield,
Illinois, and inquiring if Lincoln kept a journal,
their answer became Dunn’s new opportunity—
to write the Secret War Diaries of Abraham
Lincoln. Dunn laughs, “Like a lot of lawyers,
when Lincoln died—he had no will and no diary!
Every day for the past 5 years, I’ve been writing
an entry because it takes as long for me to write
a diary as it would have taken Lincoln to write
one. After the first book, however, I decided to
stop writing on Sundays; howbeit Lincoln never
took a day off during the entire war. He worked
every Sunday, Christmas and New Year’s. When
he wasn’t in the White House or in a place called
the Soldier’s Home, he would visit battlefields.”
Although, Lincoln never kept a diary, the US
Government published an extensive chronology
covering Lincoln’s life which has become a
tremendous resource for Dunn along with
many others. Dunn explains the process, “For
example, on September 1st, Lincoln received a
letter from a Quaker woman who wrote to tell
him that he would win the election. She wrote
using all ‘thee’ and ‘thy’ and said, ‘We hope that
thy family will be happy, and that you will win
the election.’ He responds with a letter back to
her. The interesting thing is that I have books
that contain all the letters and telegrams that
Lincoln wrote! Another such letter came from a
woman who owned a summer place in Atlantic
City, and I can read his letter in response. In turn,
when I write my diary entries, I can actually
quote the correspondence.”
Lincoln’s life before becoming the President
tells an incredible story which inspired Dunn to
learn as much as possible. He begins, “Lincoln’s
life is remarkable! With less than one year’s
schooling—and it wasn’t even one consecutive
year—he could write beautifully. Read the
Gettysburg Address! His family was dirt poor;
he had no books except one, the Bible. Although
Lincoln was a hard worker, he realized early
on that he didn’t want to become a laborer as
his father would rent him out to cut trees. He
decided to become a lawyer. Walking 17 miles to
borrow a law book, Lincoln would
read it over and over again until he
understood it and even attended
court to watch the law being
practiced. Self taught, Lincoln
acquired work at a law firm.”
Dunn remembers the personal
life of Lincoln as well, “Married
to Mary Todd, the marriage was
a rough one. Lincoln met Mary
at a party and asked her to dance
although he was poorly dressed,
very clumsy and not a good dancer.
Soon enough Lincoln proposed and
a date was set. Lincoln’s brother-inlaw
Ninian Wirt Edwards, husband
of Elizabeth Todd (Mary’s sister)
hosted the wedding at his house—
everybody showed up—except for
Lincoln. He chickened out! He got
cold feet and broke it off. About a
year later, some people arranged
a party where both Lincoln and
Mary attended; they rekindled the
relationship and ended up getting
married.”
A brilliant woman, Mary was
fluent in French and came from
a wealthy, successful family from
Kentucky with a lineage of judges
and governors. However when
Lincoln was President, Dunn shares,
“Mary would shop extravagantly
and purchase expensive rugs or
china for the White House. For
instance, on one shopping trip, she
bought 200 pair of gloves! Although
she was on a very limited budget,
she had a crooked gardener who
would make up an invoice for
fertilizer or something and submit
it to the government in order to
cover her shopping habits. When
he received the payment, then she
could go shopping.”
When the Civil War broke out,
many of Mary’s family members
were lost in battle while at the
same time the Northerners were
accusing her of being a Southern
sympathizer—times were tough.
Early on, Mary and Lincoln lost a
baby boy, and they lost another son to typhoid
fever because the water going into the White
House was contaminated. Their young son Ted
almost died too. Robert attended Harvard and
became a lawyer. Dunn tells, “Unfortunately
Lincoln didn’t have a good relationship with
his son Robert, as Lincoln was away from home
often.”
While serving as a lawyer, Lincoln traveled
the circuit by horse and buggy visiting small
towns all over. At night he would sit around the
LINCOLN con't from FRONT PAGE
No. 136 The Pinehurst Gazette, Inc. p.31
/autowerksnc.com