Wilson, Douglas L., ed.; Davis, Rodney O., ed.; Speed, Joshua F. 'Joshua F. Speed (Statement for William H. Herndon)' in 'Herndon's Informants: Letters, Interviews, and Statements About Abraham Lincoln' . Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1998. [format: book], [genre: history]. Permission: University of Illinois Press
Persistent link to this document: http://lincoln.lib.niu.edu/file.php?file=herndon588b.html

474. Joshua F. Speed (Statement for William H. Herndon) ^[1].

[by 1882]

In 1834, I was a citizen of Springfield, Sangamon Co, Ill. Mr Lincoln lived in the country, fourteen miles from the town. He was a laborer, and a deputy surveyor, and at the same time a member of the legislature, elected the year previously. In 1835, he was a candidate for reelection. I had not seen him for the first six months of my residence there, but had heard him spoken of as a man of wonderful ability on the stump. He was a long, gawky, ugly, shapeless, man. He had never spoken as far as I know of, at the county seat, during his first candidacy. The second time he was a candidate, he had already made in the legislature, considerable reputation, and on his renomination to the legislature, advertised to meet his opponents, and speak in Springfield, on a given day. I believe, that that was the first public speech, he ever made at the court-house.

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