LINCOLN LETTER
AIRING: Season 5, Episode 10
THE DETECTIVE: Elyse Luray
THE PLACE: Illinois
THE CASE:
A Tampa man has made a potentially extraordinary discovery in a stack of old photos he purchased for eight dollars. Buried in the images was a letter with what appears to be the signature of Abraham Lincoln.
It's dated 1858, almost four years before the Civil War, and contains a short and cryptic note to someone named Henry Clay Whitney.
The national spotlight is on a key senate race in Illinois where a powerful and pro-slavery Democrat is being challenged for his seat by an undistinguished Republican, Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln's battle that summer determines the course of his career and ultimately the fate of the nation.
Is this letter a forgery? And what does it refer to?
History Detectives heads to the Land of Lincoln to investigate the future president’s political calculations and correspondence at a pivotal time in his career.
Feature: Owen Lovejoy
Find out more about the passionate abolitionist and close friend of Abraham Lincoln.
Detective Journal
On the road with Elyse as she follows the footsteps of a brilliant politician.
Think you have a case for the History Detectives? Send us your mystery here. 