Excerpt from The Hidden Lincoln: From the Letters and Papers of William H. Herndon

There was one man in Springfield, however, who, when he returned from Lincoln's funeral, determined to dedicate the rest of his life to the task of gathering all the material that would be necessary for the definitive biography of his lifelong friend, law partner, and political leader. William H. Herndon knew that with the passage of time the recollections of persons who had known Lincoln would acquire a su perlative value. He began by setting down everything he himself knew about Lincoln from a daily contact of twenty years; then he talked to others in Springfield who had known Lincoln, thus supplementing and verifying his own recollections of Lincoln the husband, the father, the lawyer traveling over the Eighth Circuit and pleading in the higher courts, the spinner of yarns, the member of the State Legislature and of Congress, the political rival Of Douglas, the candidate for the Presidency Of the United States - of Lincoln up to February 12, 186] when he left Springfield for the last time. Referring to the Sign Lin coln and Herndon, Lincoln had then said, with a significant lowering of his voice: Let it hang there undisturbed. Give our clients to under stand that the election Of a President makes no difference in the firm. If I live, I'm coming back some time, and then we'll go right on prao ticing as if nothing had happened. He lingered for a moment and then passed into the narrow hallway - never to return.

Herndon prepared a list of names of people outside Springfield who might from personal acquaintance have known any facts about Lin coln's life from the day of his birth until the day Of his death that might have escaped his own memory and researches. He visited Lin coln's relatives in Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois and Obtained from them statements which he reduced to writing. He did the same with Lin coln's early neighbors, the tradespeople with Whom he had dealt, the women he had met, and the girls he had courted. In pursuit Of his clues Herndon corresponded with men and women all over the Union, track ing some of them down to the most distant points, and eliciting from former associates and friends testimony Of so intimate a quality that the real Lincoln is made to live in their letters. Herndon sent them a series of precise questions, and persisted with additional letters until all his questions had been answered.

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