Ann Rutledge

:"Ann Rutledge is also the name of a passenger train in Illinois and Missouri named after her."

Infobox Person
name = Ann Rutledge

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birth_date = birth date|1813|1|7
birth_place = Henderson, Kentucky
death_date = death date and age|1835|8|25|1813|1|7
parents = James Rutledge (father)
Mary Rutledge (mother)

Ann Rutledge (January 7, 1813 – August 25, 1835) was allegedly Abraham Lincoln's first love.

Born near Henderson, Kentucky, she was the third of ten children born to Mary and James Rutledge. In 1829, her father, along with John M. Cameron, founded New Salem, Illinois. The exact nature of the Lincoln-Rutledge relationship has been fiercely debated by historians and non-historians for over a century. It is fairly well established the two were at least good friends.Fact|date=December 2007 The story is that Rutledge was engaged to John MacNamar, a dubious character who left for New York and promised to marry her upon his return. Rutledge and Lincoln supposedly fell in love while he was gone and she promised to marry him when MacNamar returned. For a time Rutledge and MacNamar exchanged letters, but his letters became more formal and "less ardent in turn" and eventually ceased completely. [Herndon pg. 110] MacNamar never returned before her death. [http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/jala/11/simon.html] In 1835, a wave of typhoid hit the town of New Salem, leading to Ann's early death. This sad event left Lincoln severely depressed. [Donald pg. 57] Historian John Y. Simon reviewed the historiography of the subject and concluded, "Available evidence overwhelmingly indicates that Lincoln so loved Ann that her death plunged him into severe depression. [http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/jala/11/simon.html] An anonymous poem about suicide published locally exactly three years after her death is widely attributed to Lincoln. [http://www.newyorker.com/talk/content/?040614ta_talk_shenk] After President Lincoln's assassination in 1865, his friend and law partner William Herndon first revealed the story of the supposed romance between Ann and Abraham, much to Mary Todd Lincoln's anger and dismay. Abraham Lincoln's surviving son Robert Todd Lincoln was also upset by this claim. Most of Herndon's sources came from interviews with Lincoln's early friends in New Salem and Ann's relatives. The story was later repeated by Herndon in several lectures and books.

Historical Criticism of Lincoln-Rutledge Relationship

Several historians have claimed that the evidence of a love affair between Lincoln and Rutledge is tenuous at best. In his "Lincoln the President" historian James G. Randall wrote a chapter entitled "Sifting the Ann Rutledge Evidence" which cast doubt on the nature of her and Lincoln's relationship.
Lewis Gannett, writing in the Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association, claims that "Nearly sixty years after James G. Randall delivered a seeming coup de grâce to the Ann Rutledge legend, the legend may be nearing a second death." [http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/jala/26.1/gannett.html] According to historian Clyde Wilson, there is "no evidence whatsoever for the Ann Rutledge story." [http://carnageandculture.blogspot.com/2007/02/clyde-wilson-lincoln-fable-part-ii.html]

References

Bibliography

* Donald, David Herbert. "Lincoln". (1995) ISBN 0-684-80846-3
* Herndon, William Henry. "Herndon's Life of Lincoln." Originally 1888. This reference is the Da Capo Press reprint of a 1942 edition by World Publishing Company in Cleveland, Ohio

External links

* [http://members.aol.com/RVSNorton/Lincoln34.html Ann Rutledge]
* [http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/jala/11/simon.html Lincoln and Ann Rutledge]
* [http://www.mrlincolnandfriends.org/inside.asp?pageID=107&subjectID=11 Mr. Lincoln and Friends: Anne Rutledge]