lincoln and his bodyguard

The sexual orientation of Abraham Lincoln is a topic of debate among some scholars. While Lincoln was married to Mary Todd from November 4, 1842, until his death on April 15, 1865, and fathered four children with her, psychologist C. A. Tripp has observed that Lincoln's problematic and distant relationship with women stood in contrast to his more warm relations with a number of men in his life and that two of those relationships had possible homosexual overtones. Some Lincoln biographers, including David Herbert Donald, have strongly contested these claims.
As an astute politician, Lincoln was a man with many friends, Donald says. In countering claims of homosexuality, Donald cites Lincoln's letters, in which he frequently refers to acquaintances, even political enemies, as ‘‘my personal friend’