Lincoln’s First Murder

On the chilly night of March 7, 1838, a wild-eyed man rides his horse into Springfield, Illinois, intent on getting revenge. His name is Henry Truett, and he believes he has been defamed.

 The accused is Dr. Jacob Early, a 36 year-old physician, a man much respected in the community.

 Henry Truett, 30 years old, confronts Jacob Early, sitting by the fire in the parlor of Spottswood’s Hotel, the finest in town. Truett is a land registrar-- a key figure in the westward expanding USA, where landowners have power and influence. Jacob Early has apparently and publicly called Truett incompetent—and corrupt.

 Early protests, and Truett grows enraged. Witnesses scatter as Truett produces a pistol. Early raises a chair to defend himself, and the pistol fires. Jacob Early is mortally wounded. Truett flees, but the witnesses chase him down and hold him for the law. And a certain hanging.

 Abraham Lincoln served with Jacob Early in the Black Hawk War, a conflict begun when Chief Black Hawk and a group of native Americans crossed into Illinois and were attacked by the U.S. militia in 1832.  Lincoln faced death with Jacob Early. And now his friend has been murdered.

 But Abraham Lincoln is hired to represent the killer, Henry Truett.

 It is 26-year-old Abraham Lincoln’s first murder trial. He needs the money. But he also needs the win. This six-foot-four, raw-boned, hangdog country boy knows that his future as a lawyer, and, as an ambitious politician, requires entry into polite society. It all rests on his success now.

 Abraham Lincoln-- America’s sixteenth president, and the most famous after George Washington—starts out as an impoverished young lawyer in Springfield, Illinois, and makes his way through the frontier society of early 19th century America to triumph for the defense in his first murder trial.

 Lincoln had arrived in Springfield earlier that year, a failed merchant who had taught himself the law. Too poor to rent his own place, he lives above Abner Ellis General Store with proprietor Joshua Speed, who becomes Lincoln’s best friend. Indeed, they share a bed, not uncommon on the frontier, and they both pursue the town’s single women at Springfield’s Sunday Socials.

 He shares a law practise with John Stuart, a mentor who will later become an enemy. It is through Stuart that young Abraham Lincoln becomes part of the legal team that must keep the wealthy Henry Truett from the gallows. Lincoln first has to talk down the rough town vigilantes who want to lynch Truett, and he sees that he needs to postpone the trial until the temperature of Springfield cools a bit.

 Lincoln succeeds in his delay. He is gifted at making things simple-- able to reduce even complex cases to a few key points. He is a great story teller, who uses brevity and clarity to make his point. And Lincoln’s special talent is logical oral argument-- not legal research. He has an uncanny ability to 'read' juries and influence them with his persuasive arguments.

 Lincoln also uses those gifts as a budding politician, making connections and speeches as he ventures beyond the limits of Springfield as part of the legal system in place in early 19th century frontier Illinois.  Lincoln rides out on the 8th Circuit to work his cases, with fellow lawyers and judges, traveling from one isolated town to the next to bring law to the frontier. Lincoln uses the circuit to develop his political network—talking politics, making friends, and learning how to become a president. And the teetotaling Lincoln is also the wittiest-- and most ribald --raconteur in the saloon at night. All the while Henry Truett fumes in the Springfield jail.

 Henry Truett is not happy to be locked up while Lincoln travels the county in service to the law, but Lincoln assures him it will help him in the end-- even though Lincoln spends sleepless nights plotting how he can win the case, and keep his own demons of melancholy at bay. He still mourns his great love, Ann Rutledge, who died of typhoid two years earlier. But he has hope in a new attraction to Mary Todd, sister of a wealthy local woman. If only she feels the same for him.

 Lincoln is determined to win Truett’s freedom. He works with Simeon Francis, a local journalist, to plant stories favorable to the case, and by the time a jury is finally selected in October 1838, passions have cooled, and Truett can receive a fair trial. It’s still a toss-up, for murder is not to be taken lightly even on the frontier, and Lincoln watches as his more experienced legal partners make their arguments.

 Stephen Douglas, a man whom Lincoln will encounter throughout his political life, is the prosecuting counsel. He’s 25 years old, and though a foot shorter than Lincoln, he’s a huge opponent, for Douglas is as eloquent as Lincoln, and as ambitious. He also has a clear-cut case of murder to argue, and his plea for death is convincing. Springfield has just become the capital of Illinois. If it is to be a proper capital city the rule of law must remain supreme and Henry Truett must hang.

 Lincoln’s legal partners know that Lincoln can best Douglas in debate. So, as a testament to their faith in him, they choose Lincoln to give the closing argument. Or perhaps, fears Lincoln, so he can fail and let them off the hook from the anger of Truett’s wealthy family.

 Abraham Lincoln will not back down from his own fears. Using his famous brevity and logic, Lincoln wins over the all-male and white jury, who come to see Truett as a distraught soul who killed in self-defense. Henry Truett is found not guilty.

 Abraham Lincoln’s words have freed the man who killed Lincoln’s friend. He has won his first murder trial—and established the foundation of the legend he will become.