11/14/2025
Lincoln’s Closest Friend: Joshua Speed
Joshua Speed was born on this day in 1814. Speed grew up in Louisville, Kentucky at his parents’ plantation, Farmington. Well educated, Speed moved to Springfield, Illinois in 1835 where he worked at A.Y. Ellis & Company near the town square. A few years later, “a long, gawky, ugly, shapeless, man” walked into the store and the two fellow Kentuckians formed an intimate friendship that would last a lifetime.
Joshua Speed first encountered Abraham Lincoln in July of 1836 when Lincoln was running for reelection to the state legislature. On April 15th, 1837, Abraham Lincoln rode into Springfield on a borrowed horse with all of his possessions packed into two saddlebags. He dismounted his horse and walked into the A.Y. Ellis & Company store. Behind the counter was one of the owners, Joshua Speed. Lincoln, who just joined the law firm of John T. Stuart as a junior law partner, was in need of a mattress, blanket, pillow, sheets and a coverlid. Speed figured up the pricing and came up with a total of $17. Lincoln, who did not have the money, replied to Speed, “. . .if you will credit me until Christmas, and my experiment here as a lawyer is a success, I will pay you then. If I fail in that I will probably never be able to pay you back at all.” Speed felt for Lincoln and “never saw so gloomy and melancholy a face.” Speed suggested to Lincoln that he had a “very large room, and a very large double-bed in it. . .” and offered to share it. Lincoln, beaming with delight, rushed upstairs, dropped off his belongings and came down stairs saying, “Well, Speed, I’m moved.” This was the start of what would become a close friendship between the two men. They shared with each other their hopes and dreams, a love of poetry and politics and Speed became the only person that Lincoln shared his most personal thoughts with. Speed gave Lincoln the support, guidance and a friendship that he needed during this time in his life. Lincoln would live with Speed from 1837 until 1841 when Speed moved back to Louisville.
When Lincoln broke off his engagement to Mary Todd in January of 1841, Speed became very concerned that Lincoln was going to take his own life. Lincoln told him, “I am not afraid, and would be more than willing. But I have an irrepressible desire to live till I can be assured that the world is a little better for my having lived in it.” In the summer of that year, suffering from periods of melancholy that Lincoln called the “hypo”, Speed invited Lincoln to come visit him at Farmington. He spent three weeks at Farmington where he formed friendships and observed slavery firsthand. He became close with Speed’s half sister, Mary, and also met his brother James. On this trip, he visited James at his law office and borrowed a few of his books. James would become another Kentuckian who played a critical role in his professional life as a member of his Presidential cabinet. President Lincoln made James Speed Attorney General in 1864.
During the Lincoln presidency, Speed visited him in 1862 where the two men discussed emancipation. Lincoln and Speed differed on emancipation, however, he helped Lincoln by taking on an important role in arming Unionists in their home state of Kentucky. Lincoln had “confidence in his loyalty and integrity, and also in his judgement on any subject which he professes to understand.” In a speech later in life, Speed said, “As President his acts stand before the world, and by them he will be judged; as a man, honest, true, upright, and just, he lived and died.”
Joshua Speed was a blessing in Lincoln’s life. He came into Lincoln’s life at a time when he very much needed a friend. He was one of the many Kentucky-born men who made a huge impact on Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln’s oldest son Robert, later called Joshua Speed “the most intimate friend my father ever had.” Lincoln always ended his letters with Speed with the salutation, “Your friend forever,” and that is what they were.
Random fact about Farmington: it was constructed from plans created by founding father, author of the Declaration of Independence and third President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson.
Farmington Historic Plantation is a stop on the Kentucky Lincoln Heritage Trail.
Post by Stephen Young.
He can be reached at: [email protected]
Photos: Provided by the Kentucky Lincoln Heritage Trail.
