BEFORE considering the testimony as to Lincoln’s moral and religious character that is furnished by the two intimate friends of his whole lifetime, Ward H. Lamon and William H. Herndon, readers should examine carefully what is told of them in the Appendix under their names, in order to see the extraordinary conclusiveness of their testimony. Besides this, the reader will find proof there that when no one of the many distinguished eulogists of Lincoln had ventured to try to controvert or even to contradict what Lamon and Herndon call their “revelations” and “ghastly exposures” about Lincoln, although Lamon’s book was published as long ago as 1872 and Herndon’s as long ago as 1888, defenders of Lincoln were reduced to the strait of publishing as late as the years 1892 and 1895 two books with titles similar to the genuine books of Lamon and Herndon, which new books make no reference to the existence of the earlier books, contain the
frank avowals of Lamon and Herndon that they mean to tell all the gravest faults of their hero along with his virtues and omit the “revelations” and “ghastly exposures.”
State Militia Intelligence 