Henry Clay Whitney

I was inspired to read this book after reading Guy C. Fraker's book, “Lincoln's Ladder to the Presidency: The Eighth Judicial Circuit,” reviewed earlier. Fraker used this book as one of his many sources on Lincoln.

Thanks to Google, the book is available online for no charge.

The author, Henry C. Whitney (1831-1905) was an attorney in Urbana, Illinois and close friend of Abraham Lincoln. He practiced law on the Eight Circuit along with Lincoln and tried cases with and against him. He was a close political ally of Lincoln, who when after being elected to the Presidency, appointed Whitney Assistant US Paymaster, a position he held August 1861 to March 1864.

The insights on the life (beliefs, ideals and values, intelligence, diligence, manners, habits, daily behavior, likes and dislikes, humor, and temperament) of Lincoln were well understood by Whitney due to the enormous amount of intimate time they had together. Whitney tried his best to convey these insights in this work.

The lengthy book is sectioned into twenty-five chapters, with “Life on the Eighth Circuit” (chapter three) being one. I am particularly fond of chapter 11, “Lincoln as a Christian,” and chapter 13 “Lincoln and Slavery,” as they provided insights into Lincoln, and other facts, that I had not known before. In truth though, I enjoyed all twenty-five chapters and learned a lot from each.

Bloomington, Illinois (my current home) is mentioned over 30 times throughout the book. The book's value is enhanced with the inclusion of over 70 illustrations. One drawback is that there is no index, however the Google edition enables one to do searches, which readers should find to be useful, as did I.… (mehr)