As a married man, Lincoln continued to show signs of a robust sexuality, though Herndon said he “was true as steel to his wife, during his whole marriage life.” Schuyler Colfax, speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives during the Civil War, recalled that he and Lincoln “often went to Ford’s opera house to regale ourselves of an evening, for we felt the strain on mind and body was often intolerable.” They found “real relaxation” in watching “those southern girls with their well rounded forms, lustrous hair and sparkling voices. We thought it a veritable treat to see them dance and hear their song.” Also at Ford’s Theatre, Lincoln and his assistant personal secretary John Hay one night “occupied [a] private box” where both men “carried on a hefty flirtation with the Monk Girls in the flies.” At a White House reception, Lincoln shook hands with a beautiful woman as she passed through the receiving line; when she prepared to leave, he offered to shake her hand once more. When she remarked that he had already done so, he smilingly replied: “Yes, but madame, you are so good looking that I would like to shake hands with you again.”
Source: Abraham Lincoln ∶ A Life ▫𓂃
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