The Library › Reel VI · The Roommate
What happened on Lincoln’s “fatal first of January” 1841?
VERDICTDISPUTED
Lincoln wrote to Speed on March 27, 1842 of “that fatal first of Jany. ‘41” and never explained it. The traditional reading is that his engagement to Mary Todd broke off that day. Others point to his feelings for another woman, Matilda Edwards. It was also the day Speed sold his store and prepared to leave for Kentucky, which Charles Strozier argues was the real blow.
The receipts
- Abraham Lincoln to Joshua F. Speed, 27 March 1842, The Papers of Abraham Lincoln
- Gay Abe? (Charles B. Strozier, February 10, 2005), Illinois Times
- Joshua Speed, Mr. Lincoln and Friends, The Lehrman Institute
The comedy version
The untold story of Abraham Lincoln and the man who lent him half a bed.
Play The Roommate ☞More from this shelf
- Did Lincoln really move into Joshua Speed’s bed because he could not afford seventeen dollars of bedding?True
- Was it normal for two men to share a bed in the 1830s?True
- Did Lincoln really call himself “the most miserable man living”?True
- Did Lincoln visit Joshua Speed’s family plantation in Kentucky?True
- Did Lincoln write that he was jealous when Speed got married?True
- Did Lincoln ask Speed whether marriage was worth it, a month before his own wedding?True