On April 15, 1837, an impoverished Abraham Lincoln, 28, met Joshua Speed, 22, at his general store in Springfield, Illinois, and immediately agreed to share a bed with him in his living quarters above the store. They continued to share their bed for four years. They must have had a lot of interesting discussions because Joshua was the son of a plantation and slave owner. When Joshua told Abraham that he was returned to his native Kentucky, Abraham had a nervous breakdown. Abraham wrote at the time:
“I am now the most miserable man living. Whether I shall ever be better I can not tell; I awfully forbode I shall not. To remain as I am is impossible; I must die or be better, it appears to me.”
They remained friends throughout life. Abraham penned passionate letters to Joshua Speed, which he signed “yours forever,” a phrase he never wrote to his wife.
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2006-12-24
16:43:23
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