LETTERS: LINCOLN AND COLES COUNTY

The following correspondence reveals insight into interaction between Abraham Lincoln and family and friends in Charleston and Coles County, Illinois.  These letters and others are found in the The Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress, American Memory at

 http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/alhtml/malhome.html

 

 

Last home of Lincoln's parents near [...], Cole County, Ill. Built in 1831, father died 1851, mother in 1869. Lincoln visited his mother in this cabin [...] Library of Congress. Prints and Photographs Division

 

 

 

 

 

Augustus H. Chapman to Abraham Lincoln, Thursday, May 24, 1849 (Illness of Thomas Lincoln (father))

Charleston Ills May 24th 1849

Sir at the special request of J D Johnsin¹ I write you to inform you of the very severe illness of your Father. He was atacked with a Disease of the Heart some time since & for the last few days Has been getting much worse & at this time He is very low indeed He is very anxious to see you before he dies & I am told that His cries for you for the last few days are truly Heart Rendering. He wishes you to come & see him instantly if you possibly can.²

If you are fearfull of leaving your family on account of the Cholera & can bring them with you we would be very glad for you to bring them with you. the Healht of our place is exelent & Harriet³ & I would be very glad to Have bring them with you as we are very comfortably fixed & will do all we can to render your stay agreeable

Yours in great Haste

A. H. Chapman

You need have no fears of your father Suffering for any thing He may need as Harriet & I will see that he Has everything he may need A H

[Note 1 ID: John D. Johnston was Lincoln's step-brother, the son of Sarah Bush Johnston Lincoln.]
[Note 2 Lincoln visited his father May 29-31. Thomas Lincoln survived for another year and a half.]
[Note 3 ID: Harriet Hanks Chapman was the daughter of Lincoln's second cousin Dennis Hanks and Elizabeth Johnston, Lincoln's step-sister.]

 

John D. Johnston to Abraham Lincoln, Friday, May 25, 1849 (Illness of Thomas Lincoln (father))

friday morning Char May 25th 1849

Dear Brother

I hast to in form you That father is yet a Live & that is all & he Craves to See you all the time & he wants you to Come¹ if you ar able to git hure, for you are his only Child that is of his own flush & blood & it is nothing more than natere for him to crave to see you, he says he has all most Despared of see ing you, & he wonts you to pre pare to meet him in the unknown world, or in heven, for he thinks that ower Savour Savour has a Crown of glory, prepared for him I wright this with a bursting hart, I came to town for the Doctorr, & I won you to make an effort Come, if you ar able to get hure, & he wonts me to tell your wife that he Loves hure & wonts hure to hure prepare to meet him at ower Savours feet, we are all well, your Brother in hast

 

J. D. Johnston

 

[Note 1 Lincoln visited his father May 29-31. Thomas Lincoln survived for another year and a half.]

Abraham Lincoln to Thomas A. Marshall, Friday, April 23, 1858 (Political affairs)

Urbana, Ills. April 23. 1858

My dear Sir

I wish you, G. W. Rives² of Edgar, and O. L. Davis,³ of Vermilion, to co-operate in getting a Senatorial candidate on the track, in your District-- Davis is here, and agrees to do his part-- The adversary⁴ has his eye upon that district, and will beat us, unless we also are wide awake-- Under the circumstances, a District convention may, or may not be the best way -- you three to judge of that-- I think you better take some good reliable Fillmore men⁵ into conference with you, and also some proper person or persons from Cumberland. Indeed, it may appear expedient to select a Fillmore man as the candidate-- I also write to Rives-- I am most anxious to know that you will not neglect the matter, not doubting that you will do it rightly, if you only take hold of it--

I was in Springfield during the sittings of the two democratic conventions⁶ day-before-yesterday-- Say what they will, they are having an abundance of trouble-- Our own friends were also there, in considerable numbers from different parts of the State-- They are all in high spirits, and think, if we do not win, it will be our own fault-- So I really think--

Your friend as ever,

A. Lincoln

[Note 1 Lincoln was mobilizing support for the Illinois legislative election of 1858. The party with the majority of members in the new legislature would determine who would fill one of Illinois's United States Senate seats. Lincoln hoped to win the seat currently held by Stephen A. Douglas.]

[Note 2 George W. Rives was a Whig and later Republican political associate of Lincoln in Edgar County, Illinois.]

[Note 3 Oliver L. Davis was a Republican attorney with whom Lincoln practiced on Illinois's Eighth Judicial Circuit.]

[Note 4 Stephen A. Douglas]

[Note 5 "Fillmore men" were members of the American or "Know-Nothing" Party who had voted for Millard Fillmore for president in 1856. Many were former Whigs, and their recruitment by the Republican party was part of Lincoln's strategy for electoral success.]

[Note 6 The Illinois Democratic Party had splintered into two factions. One supported the Senatorial ambitions of Stephen A. Douglas and opposed the Buchanan Administration's stance on the Lecompton Constitution in Kansas. The smaller faction consisted of Democrats opposing Douglas, loyal to the Buchanan Administration, and supportive of the Lecompton Constitution.]

Thomas A. Marshall to Abraham Lincoln, Friday, August 27, 1858 (Senate)

Springfield Aug 27

Dear Lincoln

Trumbull¹ has made a list of appointments-- He has made none for Danville-- They need waking up there, if you have a chance it would do good for you to go there-- It would do much good, in fact I consider it very important for you to go to Moultrie. Trumbull has made no appointment there. He promises to go to Cumberland -- but not at the Court--

These small Counties ought to be attended to-- The enemy pays special attention to them I make these suggestions to you at the suggestion of the gentlemen here-- I will see you when you come over to Paris-- I have written to Mattoon that you will be there Tuesday morning Sept 7 -- till the train goes east-- They will be in to see you that morning. ... Yours Respy, T. A Marshall

[ Endorsed on Envelope by Lincoln:]

T. A. Marshall

[Note 1 Lyman Trumbull]

Charleston Illinois Literary Association to Abraham Lincoln, Wednesday, September 28, 1859 (Invitation)

Charleston Ill. Sepr. 28, 1859

 

Dr. Sir

The undersigned were appointed a committee by the ";Young Men's Literary Association of Charleston" to select persons to deliver Lectures the coming Winter in our Town

 

Your reputation as a thinker and speaker has pointed you out as a very proper person to invite, and in our capacity we very earnestly solicit you to accept this our invitation to deliver a lecture upon some subject (of your own selection) in our town sometime during the coming Winter.

 

You are aware we have not a city to boast of, but we have a town made up of an intelligent and appreciative people, and a large Hall to speak in, and will promise you a hearty welcome

If it is possible, please accept and fix sometime for the purpose, and also the amt you will charge, and let us know as soon as it is in your power to do so ... Very Respectfully

 

W. M. Chambers

H. P. H. Bromwell

L. B. Moon

[ Endorsed on Envelope by Lincoln:]

Charleston--

 

 

 

 

 

Abraham Lincoln to John Hanks, Monday, January 28, 1861 (Lincoln's travel plans)

Springfield, Jan. 28. 1861

 

Dear John

I now think I will pass Decatur, going to Coles, on the day after to-morrow -- Wednesday the 30th of the month-- Be ready, and go along--

Yours as ever  A. Lincoln

 

[Note 1 Lincoln anticipated visiting his stepmother, Sarah Bush Lincoln, in Coles County, Illinois, before leaving for Washington. Though it does not appear that his cousin, John Hanks, who lived near Decatur, actually accompanied him, Lincoln spent the day with Mrs. Lincoln on January 31. For a reminiscent account of that visit, see Douglas L.. Wilson and Rodney O. Davis, ed., Herndon's Informants: Letters, Interviews and Statements about Abraham Lincoln (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1998), 136-37.]

Thomas A. Marshall to Abraham Lincoln, Sunday, December 08, 1861 (Seeks office)

Charleston Ill: Decr 8th 1861

Dear Sir

I wrote you when you were about leaving Springfield, that I expected t o be broken up -- what I then anticipated has become fully realized.¹ I have surrendered all my property to my creditors. It will pay the last cent of my debts even though sold at ruinous prices. But if any thing is left for me or my family, it will be years before it can be realized, and in fact all I have left is a parcel of very bad claims-- Up to last week, I supposed I was a Colonel in the pay of the Government. In fact I drew pay to Oct. 31st, but last week, I was informed that Genl Halleck regarded me, with others taken prisoner, as out of the service, & pay for November was refused me.

I am therefore now left some what old, with a family accustomed to luxury & ease, without any fault of my own as I think, broken in fortune -- broken in reputation, almost broken in spirit, & nearly deserted by my friends, or those who seemed to be friends when I was supposed, to have wealth & influence, to commence life again, at the very bottom of the ladder.

All this I know constitutes no claim to office but I worked four years faithfully for the party, & spent nearly $2000 in actual cash. That money saved & that labor bestowed on my business, would have told on my condition to day. And I hope too, because I know you feel kindly towards me, that you will do some thing for me. I cannot name what I would have, because I do not know what places remain or may become vacant. Mr Wyche wrote me, that the Governorship of Washington Territory would be vacated. I saw some time ago, that a Consul Generalship, I believe of India was vacant, & the 5th Auditor recommends the creation of a Consul Generalship for the Pacific Coast & Islands. Any of these places or any equivalent place I would be glad to get, or if nothing better a clerkship at Washington, (I would hope for the best class) would support my family. If however you have any objections to providing a place for me, either on account of the disgraceful charge made against me, or for any other reasons, please to inform me at once, so that I may depend upon it no longer. If on the other hand you will do any thing for me, remember that he twice gives, who gives promptly I cannot wait long.

Respectfully

T. A. Marshall

[Note 1 See Marshall to Lincoln, February 10, 1861.]
From Montgomery Blair to Abraham Lincoln, June 12, 1862

 

Post Office Department,

 

June 12, 1862.

 

Sir:

 

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 4th instant,¹ with a letter of the 21st ultimo addressed to you by Mr. D. F. Hanks,² of Charleston, Ill., referring to a proposal made by him for carrying the mail between the Charleston post office and the railroad depot, and asking why the contract is not awarded to him, his bid being lower than the rate now paid for the service.

 

His proposal was received by the Department on the 24th March last; but, not being in response to any invitation, by advertisement or otherwise, it has, as is usual in such cases, elicited no action. The kind of service proposed for (styled "mail messenger" service) is not put under contract periodically, as are the public mail routes of the Country, but is performed by persons designated for the purpose, at a stipulated rate of compensation. In case of the death or resignation of a messenger, or his removal for misconduct, instructions are given to the postmaster to post an advertisement inviting proposals, and the lowest bidder is designated to fill the place.

 

This course was pursued with reference to the mail messenger service at Charleston, Ill., in March, 1860, and proposals were received as follows, viz:

S. B. Peppers, $156. per annum

A. G. Mitchell, 120 " ... "

Daniel Moper, 113 96/100 " ... "

Dennis F. Hanks, 108 ... " ... "

Charles Wesley, 108 ... " ... "

Moses F. Franklin, 108 ... " ... "

W. Pepper, 105 ... " ... "

A. W. Kelly, 100 ... " ... "

W. J. Guthrie, 99 ... " ... "

 

W. J. Guthrie was thereupon designated as messenger, at $99 per annum; and the Department is not aware of any purpose on his part to abandon the service, or of any misconduct rendering his removal necessary.

 

Very respectfully,

 

Your Obdt. Sert.

M Blair

Postmaster General.

 

[Note 1 This letter has not been located.]

[Note 2 ID: Dennis F. Hanks was Lincoln's cousin and boyhood companion. Hanks lived with the Lincolns from 1818 until his marriage in 1821. In 1830 he moved to Illinois with the Lincolns and settled in Coles County. While Lincoln was president Hanks helped care for Lincoln's stepmother and Lincoln sent him $50 in 1864 for that purpose. The only Hanks letter in this collection is the one he wrote Lincoln after he received the $50.]

Dennis F. Hanks to Abraham Lincoln, Tuesday, April 05, 1864 (Family affairs)

Apreel 5th 64

Dere Abe I Receivd your Little Check for 50.00 I shoed it to mother She cried Like a child Abe She is Mity Childish heep of truble to us Betsy² is very feble and has to wait on hir which ort to have Sum person to wait on hir we are getting old We have a great Many to wait on of our Conncetions they will cum to See us while we Live Abe Charles has Reinlested a gain for three years or Dureing the war this is hard to his Mother Abe we had a horible time on Munday of Court it Brok up got in to a fuss By a Drunkin Soldier I Never Saw Such a time thare was 8 or 10 Killed in the fight³ one you no Doct yorke⁴ of paris Edgar County young E winkler was wounded Abe I Received a Letter from Sophia Lynch⁵ now John Lagrand is hir Last husband She wants to no whether you are that Abe Lincoln hir cusin or Not is this not Strange to you it was to me hir Boys all in the army younion Boys at VixBurg Abe you never have Seen as Strong a youning Boy as Charles Hanks I am Mity afraid that Theophilus⁶ will gaw into army with Charles he is 15 years old a very Staut Boy he can Shoot as well as I Can Abe Remember My Boys if you Can I Dont ask any thing

how is your family

Nothing More Drop me a few Lyons if you feel Like it

Yours Respectefuly

D. F Hanks

 

 

[Note 1 ID: Dennis F. Hanks was Lincoln's cousin and boyhood companion. Hanks moved in with the Lincolns following the death of Lincoln's mother and was married to Lincoln's stepsister in 1821. Hanks came to Illinois with the Lincoln family and settled in Coles County. After Lincoln's election to the presidency, Hanks and John J. Hall helped care for Lincoln's stepmother. Following Lincoln's assassination, Hanks cooperated with William H. Herndon's effort to collect reminiscences regarding Lincoln's early life. Herndon's interviews and letters from Hanks are collected in Douglas L. Wilson and Rodney O. Davis, eds. Herndon's Informants: Letters, Interviews, and Statements About Abraham Lincoln (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1998).]

[Note 2 Sarah Elizabeth Johnston Hanks was Lincoln's stepsister, the daughter of his stepmother, and the wife of the writer, Dennis Hanks.]

[Note 3 On March 28, 1864 a violent clash occurred at Charleston, Illinois between soldiers of the 54th Illinois and Democrats. Nine men were killed in the fighting. See Robert D. Sampson, "'Pretty damned warm times' The 1864 Charleston Riot and 'the inalienable right of revolution,'" Illinois Historical Journal, Vol. 89 (Summer, 1996), 99-116.]

[Note 4 Major Shubal York, the surgeon for the 54th Illinois, was mortally wounded in the riot.]

[Note 5 Lincoln and Dennis Hanks had a cousin named Sophia.]

[Note 6 Charles and Theophilus Hanks were sons of Dennis Hanks.]
From William F. Schriver to Abraham Lincoln [Copy and Endorsement by Lincoln]¹, May 9, 1864

 

Copy

Charleston, Ills. May 9th 1864

Dear Sir

 

This will be presented to you by Father Hanks² who will more fully lay before you my wants than I can here explain. I will simply say that if consistent with your feelings, and not in any way conflicting with Army regulations I would like a permit to trade within the lines of the Armies of the Cumberland, Mississippi and Arkansas in Cotton & Hides for shipment North. For reference I can only offer Father Hanks.

 

I am very truly Your Obt. Servt.

 

W. F. Schriver.

 

Indorsed

The writer of this is personally unknown to me, though married to a young relative of mine-- I shall be obliged if he be allowed what he requests so far as the rules and exigencies of the public service will permit.

 

A. Lincoln

 

May 15. 1864

 

[ Endorsed on Envelope by Lincoln:]

Dennis Hanks--

Poorman³ & Schriver.

 

[Note 1 This request from Schriver was carried to Washington by Dennis Hanks, Lincoln's cousin-once-removed and boyhood companion, who was visiting Lincoln in behalf of prisoners arrested following the Charleston, Illinois riot of March 28, 1864. William F. Shriver had married Dennis Hanks' daughter Mary Hanks. Lincoln apparently endorsed the original letter, but made a copy of it and his endorsement for his files.]

[Note 2 Dennis Hanks]

[Note 3 Lincoln apparently filed this document with another of a similar character. See Allison C. Poorman to Lincoln, May 9, 1864.]

Samuel H. Treat to Abraham Lincoln, Monday, July 04, 1864 (Telegram concerning Coles County prisoners)

The following Telegram received at Washington, 130 M. July 4 1864.

From Springfield Ill July 4 1864.

The record in the case of the Coles Co prisoners was ordered to be certified to the president it contains the whole case in my opinion the prisoners should have been surre surrendered to the civil authority under the act of March Third (3) eighteen sixty three (1863) Judge Davis was of the same opinion¹

S H Treat

[Note 1 Lincoln knew Judge Treat well and had practiced before him as a lawyer. He had telegraphed Treat the same day, asking for a summary of the evidence in the case and Treat's opinion of the same. On March 28, 1864 a riot involving Copperheads and Federal soldiers broke out in Charleston, Illinois, resulting in numerous casualties, including nine dead. Fifteen Copperheads were arrested and ordered to be taken to Fort Delaware. See Collected Works, VII, 422.]

Orlando B. Ficklin to Abraham Lincoln, Saturday, September 10, 1864 (Coles County prisoners)

Charleston Sept. 10th 64

 

My dear Sir

 

I beg leave to enclose to you the letter of our mutual friend Thomas A. Marshall, than whom no more ultra Republican lives in this latitude.²

 

He tells you of the insignificance & want of influence & of consequence of the 15 Coles Co prisoners.³ Why keep them confined in Fort Delaware.

 

Powerless for good or evil, & wholly disconnected with the Coles Co. riot, their confinement is entirely without significance. It is a punishment to innocent men but furnish no warning to the guilty. Washington Reardon is in Hospital with slight hopes of recovery

 

Send him home to to be tried at our Court on the 4th Monday of this Month. He can give all the bail required, but kept there he is likely to die

 

I have told the friends of these prisoners that I had known you long & well & that you would not keep them in prison when there is no proof of their guilt.

 

What have they done that is worthy of death or of bonds? Reardon Brooke & Shelborne are now in hospital with a fair prospect of not getting out alive. Can you not be merciful to the afflicted & give ear to the wailings of the wife & children of each of these afflicted & wrongfully persecuted Men?

 

Republicans Democrats & Conservatives here all unite in asking that these men be tried or discharged & why can it not be done?

 

Is the government afraid of a trial in open day?

 

From March till September these men have pined in a prison & most of them have no more connection than Your Excellency with the Coles Co raid Why then hold them The (54) Col. Mitchells⁴ Regt captured at Duvalls Bluff arrive daily & will all be here soon I beg of you to act in the case of the Coles Co Prisoners.⁵

 

Yours truly

 

O. B. Ficklin

 

[Note 1 Ficklin was an attorney and former congressman from Charleston, Illinois.]

[Note 2 See Thomas A. Marshall to Lincoln, August 23, 1864.]

[Note 3 A riot took place at Charleston on March 28, 1864 between soldiers of the 54th Illinois and anti-war Democrats. Nine men were killed in the riot and the military authorities arrested fifteen of the Democrats and transported them to Fort Delaware. Ficklin had traveled to Washington in July and met with Lincoln in order to persuade him to release the prisoners at Fort Delaware. See Lincoln to Ficklin, July 22, 1864 and Ficklin to Lincoln, [July 22, 1864]. For a discussion of the Charleston riot, see Robert D. Sampson, "'Pretty damned warm times' The 1864 Charleston Riot and 'the inalienable right of revolution,'" Illinois Historical Journal, Vol. 89 (Summer, 1996), 99-116.]

[Note 4 Greenville Mitchell was colonel of the 54th Illinois.]

[Note 5 On November 4, Lincoln released the Coles County prisoners to the civil authorities. See Collected Works, VIII, 90.]

Thomas A. Marshall to Abraham Lincoln, Tuesday, August 23, 1864 (Riot at Charleston, Illinois)

Charleston Ills

August 23rd 1864

Dear Sir

I am requested by our old friend Ficklin² to write you my notions about releasing the 15 Copperheads that were arrested for being concerned in the outbreak here last Spring, & have been taken to Fort Delaware.³ I think none of them are of sufficient consequence, to be made State-prisoners of-- Several of them were I hear not indicted for any offence, by the grand jury -- of this County Which body was thouroughly Loyal, & well disposed to bring all to justice, against whom there was any proof--

I think those who were indicted had better be handed over to the authorities here for trial & the others let loose Most of them are poor miserable devils, that can do but little good or harm any way. The leaders & indeed most of the actors in the affair here have so far escaped arrest-- So far as I understand the feeling here the public would be satisfied to have these prisoners discharged--⁴

I have been here from Vicksburg, some three weeks, & in about another week will return there.

Respectfully & Truly

Yours &c

T. A. Marshall

[ Endorsed by Lincoln:]

Coles Co, prisoners.

[Note 1 Marshall offers Lincoln advice in regard to the handling of defendants imprisoned after the Charleston, Illinois riot of March 28, 1864.]

[Note 2 Orlando B. Ficklin was an attorney and former congressman from Charleston, Illinois.]

[Note 3 On March 28, 1864 a riot involving Copperheads and Federal soldiers broke out in Charleston, Illinois, resulting in numerous casualties, including nine dead. Fifteen Copperheads were arrested and ordered to be taken to Fort Delaware.]

[Note 4 On November 4, Lincoln directed the military authorities to release the Coles County prisoners to the custody of the civil authorities in Illinois. See Collected Works, VIII, 90.]
John J. Hall to Abraham Lincoln, Tuesday, October 18, 1864 (Dennis Hanks keeps the money that Lincoln sends for his stepmother)

Private.

Charleston Coles County Illinois Oct 18th 1864

Dear A Uncle,

This Leaves us all well but grand Mother.² She is quite poor. I write to Inform you that Grand Mother has not and does not receive one cent of the money you send her. Dennis & Chapman³ keeps all the mony you send, her. She now needs, clotheing and shoes, they have the mony in their Pockett, & Uncle Dennis is, cusseing you all the time and abusing me & your best, Friends, for supportin you they make you believe, they are takeing care of her, which is not the case; I & my Mother are now takeing care of her and have for the last four years-- If you wish her to have any thing send it by check, here to the bank at Charleston or send none for I tell you upon the honor of a man She does not get it & he Dennis has threatened to put her on the county I hope to hear from you soon-- Brother Alferd is wounded & badly, shot through the foot & is now in the hospital at Quincy -- he was wounded at Dallas GA 27th of May last I remain your Nephew

John J Hall

NB,

I have written you these plain truths by grand Mothers request She has been asking me to do this for four years -- plese write soon

John J Hall--

[Note 1 Hall was the son of Lincoln's stepsister Matilda Johnston Hall. He had purchased the property in Coles County, Illinois of Lincoln's father, Thomas Lincoln, and helped care for Lincoln's stepmother.]
[Note 2 Sarah Bush Johnston Lincoln was Abraham Lincoln's stepmother.]
[Note 3 Dennis F. Hanks and Augustus H. Chapman]

James Shoaff to Abraham Lincoln, Friday, November 18, 1864 (Old friend seeks office)

 

Decatur, Ills., Nov. 18, 1864.

 

"Uncle Abe" -- Dear Sir:--

 "Excuse the familiar expression; but you remember by that name we called you in days gone by, when you used to sit around our table in our humble cottage.) My object in writing you is simply to ascertain if you will not confer a favor upon me. You can do it if you will and thereby place me in a Comfortable Condition of life whereby I can decently support my large family. What I respectfully ask for is the appointment of Post-master for Decatur. The present incumbent, Mr. Ryan, has held it over eight years, and a change would not shock this community. If you will do this much for me Uncle Abe, I will ever pray for your success in life. I feel competent to discharge all the duties of the office.²

 

As for my loyalty, I would respectfully refer you to our citizens. I was in the army 16 months, and perhaps would be there to-day were my health sufficient to stand the fatigues of a camp life.

Nancy wishes to be remembered. Father Hanks was robbed of $130 at Crestine, on his return from Washington.³ Please give me a favorable answer, and you shall ever be remembered by

 

Yours very truly

 

James Shoaff

 

[Note 1 Shoaff was the former editor of a Democratic newspaper at Decatur and had served as a lieutenant in the 35th Illinois.]

[Note 2 The 1865 Official Register lists John Ryan as the postmaster at Decatur.]

[Note 3 Shoaff was married to Nancy M. Hanks, a daughter of Dennis F. Hanks. Dennis Hanks had traveled to Washington in order to try and persuade Lincoln to release the Coles County rioters. See Douglas L. Wilson and Rodney O. Davis, eds., Herndon's Informants: Letters, Interviews and Statements About Abraham Lincoln (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1997), 653-54.]

Harriet Chapman to Abraham Lincoln, Tuesday, January 17, 1865 (Family affairs)

Charleston Ills Jan the 17th 65

 

Dear Uncle

 

I have ben intending to write to you for some time, but felt so bad that I had not the heart to write to enny one save my Husband.¹ Our family have resently met with a great loss God in his divine mercy has seen fit to take from our midst a kind and beloved Mother.² She died on the 18th of Dec after an Illness of a about 6 months in her death we have lost a devoted Mother one whose place can never be fild on this Earth You also have lost a friend for Mother was indeed a friend to you and Spoke of you often during her last moments But we ought not to greive too much for her for She died happy and left behind every assureance that She has gone hapy. Father³ takes her death vary hard he is not well and I fear that he is not long for this world and it is heart rendering to think of having to give him up too. I was down to See Grand Ma Lincoln⁴ on Newyears day She seems to be failing fast and is grieving her self to death about Mother. Poor woman how my heart aches for her. She was so destitute of every Comfort She wants to leave thare vary bad and Come to my house and tells me that She is badly treated⁵ I told her that it was impossible for me to take her just now for my house is small and not vary Comfortable and my family large. but I told her to wait till my Husband Come home his time of Servise expires the 17th of Feb. and then we would try and do Something for her it looks too hard for as good a woman as She is to be Compeld to Spend her last days in want and missery-- And I for one will do as I always have done my part in her behalf and now want you to assist me by giving my Husband a Situation so that he Can Support his family and get them a home and then we will take Grand Ma Lincoln and take good Care of her as long as She lives if we Should be spared that long. you Can do this and not discomode yoursilf in the least. and I think that Augustus deserves your favor. he has always been a Strong Union man Spent both time and moniy in your Election has now ben in the Army for 3 years and 3 months and would remain longer if his family was better Situated -- during that time has never been sick a day or unfit for duty and has never had but one furlough home and that only for 15 days. has not made ennything but a living for himself and family and this is why I ask you for your assistence feeling Sure that you would not deny me and then Gran Ma made me promis to write to you and tell you to do all you Could for us for She would rather live with us then enny where els The rest of the relations are all well.

 

The roling months have brought us the Close of an other year-- Thare has ben much suffering throughout our land during that time-- Meny are the vacant Chair-- Houses have ben made desolate partings endured-- Heart Strings have ben broke -- and meny widows and orphans have mourned for the loved and lost. But let us look forward to a better future and welcome young 1/65 with bright hopes and pleasent anticipations let us hope that before its Close Smiling peace will return once more and Scatter its blessings through all our land--

 

Well I have written a much longer letter than I intended to trouble you with this time and if I have transgrest I hope you will forgive. [ I?] If you feel disposed and Can assist Augustus please let him know soon he would be at home in about 6 weeks.⁶ Remember me kindly to your wife and Children

-yours with love

Harriet A Chapman

 

[Note 1 Augustus Chapman. Harriet was daughter of Lincoln's cousin & boyhood friend, Dennis Hanks.]  [Note 2 Elizabeth Johnston Hanks was Lincoln's stepsister and wife of Dennis F. Hanks.]  [Note 3 Lincoln's cousin, Dennis F. Hanks.]  [Note 4 Sarah Bush Johnston Lincoln, Lincoln's stepmother & mother of Elizabeth Johnston Hanks, Harriet's mother.]  [Note 5 Lincoln's stepmother was staying at the home of John J. Hall. According to Hall, money Lincoln sent to help care for his stepmother was kept by Hanks and the Chapmans. See John J. Hall to Lincoln, October 18, 1864.]  [Note 6 Though no Lincoln reply has been located, Chapman wrote to Andrew Johnson in September 1865 and informed the president that Lincoln had promised him an office in appreciation for his military service and care he had given to Lincoln's stepmother. Johnson appointed Chapman an agent to the Flathead Indians in Montana.

 

 

9.  Dennis F. Hanks, 1877 (Statement on his relationship with Lincoln)

 (Copy)

This biographical sketch is writte n by request of an old friend.

I Dennis F Hanks and A. Lincoln were cousins both born in Hardin County Kentucky. I was born in 1799, May 15. A Lincoln born February the 12, 1809, near Hodginsville, now Larue County. Our parents moved to Spencer County Indiana near Gentryville in the fall of 1817. There I became his preceptor, learned him his letters, spell, read and write. He was a very good boy and an earnest man so was his father before him His mother belong to the Baptist Church, a christian lady in every respect. D. F. Hanks.

The picture that will accompany this writing is a very good one of myself. I live in Paris Illinois at this date 1877.

Dennis F. Hanks and A. Lincoln were always together until he was twenty one years old Then we were parted which was in Macon County Illinois I am the only relative living that was always intimate with him from birth until his assassination

D. F. Hanks.

[Note 1 See J. O. Humphrey to John G. Nicolay, July 5, 1886.]

 

Abraham Lincoln, [May-June 1860] (Autobiographical Notes) 

 

Abraham Lincoln was born Feb. 12. 1809, then in Hardin, now in the more recently formed county of Larue, Kentucky-- His father, Thomas, & grand-father, Abraham, were born in Rockingham county Virginia, whither their ancestors had come from Berks county Pennsylvania-- This lineage has been traced no further back than this-- The family was originally quakers, though in later times they have fallen away from the peculiar habits of that people-- The grand-father Abraham, had four brothers -- Isaac, Jacob, John & Thomas-- So far as known, the decendants of Jacob and John are still in Virginia-- Isaac went to a place near where Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee, join; and his decendants are in that region-- Thomas came to Kentucky, and after many years, died there, whence his decendants went to Missouri-- Abraham, grandfather of the subject of this sketch, came to Kentucky, and was killed by indians about the year 1784-- He left a widow, three sons and two daughters-- The eldest son, Mordecai, remained in Kentucky till late in life, when he removed to Hancock County Illinois, where soon after he died, and where several of his descendants still reside-- The second son, Josiah, removed at an early day to a place on Blue River, now within Harrison county, Indiana; but no recent information of him, or his family, has been obtained-- The eldest sister, Mary, married Ralph Crume and some of her descendants are now known to be in Breckenridge County Kentucky-- The second sister, Nancy, married William Brumfield, and her family are not known to have left Kentucky, but there is no recent information from them-- Thomas, the youngest son, and father of the present subject, by the early death of his father, and very narrow circumstances of his mother, even in childhood was a wandering laboring boy, and grew up litterally without education-- He never did more in the way of writing than to bunglingly sign his own name-- Before he was grown, he passed one year as a hired hand with his uncle Isaac on Wataga, a branch of the Holston river-- Getting back into Kentucky, and having reached his 28 th year, he married Nancy Hanks -- mother of the present subject -- in the year 1806. She also was born in Virginia; and relatives of hers of the name of Hanks, and of other names, now reside in Coles, in Macon, and in Adams Counties, Illinois, and also in Iowa-- The present subject has no brother or sister of the whole or half blood-- He had a sister, older than himself, who was grown and married, but died many years ago, leaving no child. Also a brother, younger than himself, who died in infancy-- Before leaving Kentucky he and his sister were sent to for short periods, to A. B. C. schools, the first kept by Zachariah Riney, and the second by Caleb Hazel, In his At this time his father resided on Knob-creek, on the road from Bardstown Ky. to Nashville Tenn. at a point three, or three and a half miles South or South-West of Atherton's ferry on the Rolling Fork-- From this place he removed to what is now Spencer county Indiana, in the autumn of 1816-- A. then being in his eigth year-- This removal was partly on account of slavery; but chiefly on account of the difficulty in land titles in Ky-- He settled in an unbroken forest; and the clearing away of surplus wood wood was the great task a head. A. though very young, was large of his age, and had an axe put into his hands at once; and from that till within his twentythird year, he was almost constantly handling that most useful instrument -- less, of course, in plowing and harvesting seasons-- At this place A. took an early start as a hunter, which was never much inp improved afterwards-- A few days before the completion of his eigth year, in the absence of his father, a flock of wild turkeys approached the new log-cabin, and A. with a rifle gun, standing inside, shot through a crack, and killed one of them-- He has never since pulled a trigger on any larger game--² In the autumn of 1818 his mother died; and a year afterwards his father married M rs Sally Johnston, at Elizabeth-Town, Ky -- a widow, with three children of his her first marriage, She proved a good and kind mother to A. and is still living in Coles Co. Illinois-- There were no children of this second marriage-- His father's residence continued at the same place in Indiana, till 1830-- While here A. went to A. B. C. schools by littles, kept successively by Andrew Crawford, ________ Sweeney, and Azel W. Dorsey-- He does not remember any other-- The family of M r Dorsey now reside in Schuyler Co. Illinois--A. now thinks that the aggregate of all his schooling did not amount to one year--He never was in a College or Academy as a student; and never inside of a College or Academy building till since he had a law license-- What he has in the way of education he has picked up-- After he was twentythree, and had separated from his father, he studied English grammar, imperfectly of course, but so as to speak and write as well as he now did does-- He studied and nearly mastered the Six-books of Euclid, since he was a member of Congress-- He regrets his want of education, and does what he can to supply the want-- In his tenth year he was kicked by a horse, and apparantly killed for a time-- When he was nineteen, still residing in Indiana, he made his first trip upon a flat-boat to New-Orleans-- He was a hired hand merely; and he and a son of the owner, without other assistance, made the trip-- The nature of part of the load cargo-load, as it was called -- made it necessary for them to linger and trade along the Sugar coast -- and one night they were attacked by seven negroes with intent to kill and rob them. They were hurt some in the melee, but suceeded in driving the negroes from the boat, and then "cut cable" "weighed anchor" and left--

 

March 1 st 1830-- A. having just completed his 21 st year, his father and family, with the families of the two daughters and sons-in-law, of his step-mother, left the old homestead in Indiana, and came to Illinois-- Their mode of conveyance was waggons drawn by ox-teams, as A. drove one of the teams-- They reached the county of Macon, and stopped there some time within the same month of March. His father and family settled a new place on the North side of the Sangamon river, at the junction of the timber-land and prairie, about ten miles Westerly from Decatur-- Here they built a log-cabin, into which they removed, and made sufficent of rails to fence ten acres of ground, fenced and broke the ground, and raised a crop of sod corn upon it the same year-- These are, or are supposed to be, the rails about which so much is being said just now, though they are far from being the first, or only rails ever made by A.³

 

The sons-in-law, were temporarily settled at other places in the County-- In the autumn all hands were greatly afflicted with augue and fever, to which they had not been used, and by which they were greatly discouraged-- so much so that they determined on leaving the County-- They remained however, through the succeeding winter, which was the winter of the very celebrated "deep snow" of Illinois-- During that winter, A. together with his step-mother's son, John D. Johnston, and John Hanks, yet residing in Macon county, hired themselves to one Denton Offutt, to take a flat boat from Beardstown Illinois to New-Orleans; and for that purpose, were to join him -- Offut -- at Springfield, Ills so soon as the snow should go off-- When it did go off which was about the 1 st of March 1831 -- the country was so flooded, as to make traveling by land impracticable; to obviate which difficulty the purchased a large canoe and came down the Sangamon river in it-- This is the time and manner of A's first entrance into Sangamon County-- They found Offutt at Springfield, but learned from him that he had failed in getting a boat at Beardstown-- This lead to their hiring themselves to him at $12 per month each; and getting the timber out of the trees and building a boat at old Sangamon Town on the Sangamon river, seven miles N. W. of Springfield, which boat they took to New-Orleans, substantially upon the old contract-- It was in connection with this boat that occurred the ludicrous incident of sewing up the hogs eyes-- Offutt bought thiry odd large fat live hogs, but found difficulty in driving them from where purchased them to the boat, and thereupon conceived the whim that he could sew up their eyes and drive them where he pleased-- No sooner thought of than decided, he put his hands, including A. at the job, which they completed -- all but the driving-- In their blind condition they could not be driven out of the lot or field they were in. This experiment failing, they were tied and hauled on carts to the boat-- It was near the Sangamon River, within what is now Menard County--

 

During this boat enterprize acquaintance with Offutt, who was previously an entire stranger, he conceived a liking for A. and believing he could turn him to account, he contracted with him to act as clerk for him, on his return from New-Orleans, in charge of a store and Mill at New-Salem, then in Sangamon, now in Menard County-- Hanks had not gone to New-Orleans, but having a family, and being likely to be detained from home longer than at first expected, had turned back from St. Louis-- He is the same John Hanks who now engineers the "rail enterprize" at Decatur; and is a first cousin to A's mother-- A's father, with his own family & others mentioned, had, in purs pursuance of their intention, removed from Macon to Coles county-- John D. Johnston, the step-mother's son, went to them; and A. stopped indefinitely, and, for the first time, as it were, by himself, at New-Salem, before mentioned-- This was in July 1831-- Here he rapidly made acquaintances and friends-- In less than a year Offutt's business was failing -- had almost failed -- when the Black-Hawk war of 1832 -- broke out-- A joined a volunteer Company, and to his own surprize, was elected Captain of it-- He says he has not since had any success in life which gave him so much satisfaction-- He went the campaign, served near three months, met some the ordinary hardships of such an expedition, but was in no battle-- He now owns in Iowa, the land upon which his own warrant for this service, was located-- Returning from the campaign, and encouraged by his great popularity among his immediate neighbors, he, the same year, ran for the Legislature and was beaten -- his own precinct, however, casting it's votes 277 for and 7, against him-- And this too whle he was an avowed Clay man, and the precinct the autumn afterwards, giving a majority of 115 to Gen l Jackson over M r Clay-- This was the only time A was ever beaten in a direct vote of the people-- He was now without means and out of business, but was anxious to remain with his friends who had treated him with so much generosity, especially as he had nothing elsewhere to go to-- He studied what he should do -- thought of learning the black-smith trade -- thought of trying to study law -- rather thought he could not succeed at that without a better education. Before long, strangely enough, a man⁴ offered to sell and did sell, to A. and another as poor as himself⁵ an old stock of goods, upon credit-- They opened as merchants; and he says that was the store-- Of course they did nothing but get deeper and deeper in debt-- He was appointed Postmaster at New-Salem -- the office being too insignificant, to make his politics an objection-- The store winked out-- The Surveyor of Sangamon,⁶ offered to depute to A that portion of his work which was within his part of the county-- He accepted, procured a compass and chain, studied Flint, and Gibson a little, and went at it-- This procured bread, and kept soul and body together-- The election of 1834 came, and he was then elected to the Legislature by the highest vote cast for any candidate-- Major John T. Stuart, then in full practice of the law, was also elected. During the canvass, in a private conversation he encouraged A. study law-- After the election he borrowed books of Stuart, took them home with him, and went at it in good earnest-- He studied with nobody-- He still mixed in the surveying to pay board and clothing bills-- When the Legislature met, the law books were dropped, but were taken up again at the end of the session. He was re-elected in 1836. 1838. and 1840-- In the Autumn of 1836 he was licenced obtained a law licence, and on April 15, 1837 removed to Springfield, and commenced the practice, his old friend, Stuart taking him into partnership-- March 3 rd 1837, by a protest entered upon the Ills. House Journal of that date, at pages 817. 818, A. with Dan Stone, another representative of Sangamon, briefly defined his position on the slavery question; and so far as it goes, it was then the same that it is now. The protest is as follows-- (Here insert it)⁷ In 1838. & 1840 M r L's party in the Legislature voted for his as Speaker; but being in the minority, he was not elected-- After 1840 he declined a re-election to the Legislature-- He was on the Harrison electoral ticket in 1840, and on that of Clay in 1844, and spent much time and labor in both those canvasses-- In Nov. 1842 he was married to Mary, daughter of Robert S. Todd, of Lexington, Kentucky-- They have three living children, all sons -- one born in 1843, one in 1850, and one in 1853-- They lost one, who was born in 1846. In 1846. he was elected to the lower House of Congress, and served one term only, commencing in Dec. 1847 and ending with the inaugeration of Gen. Taylor, in March 1849-- In 1852 All the battles of the Mexican war had been fought before Mr. L-- took his seat in Congress, but the American army was still in Mexcico, and the treaty of peace was not fully and formally ratified till the June afterwards-- Much has been said of his course in Congress in regard to this war-- A careful examination of the Journals sh and Congressional Globe shows, that he voted for all the supply measures which came up while he was there, and for all the measures in any way favorable to the officers, soldiers, and their families, who conducted the war through; with this exception that some of these measures passed without yeas and nays, leaving no record as to how particular men voted-- The Journals and Globe also show him voting that the war was unnecessarily and unconstitutionally commenced begun by the President of the United States-- This is the language of M r Ashmun's amendment, for which M r L. and nearly or quite all, other whigs of the H. R. voted--

 

M r L's reasons for the opinion expressed by this vote were briefly these that the President had sent Genl. Taylor into an inhabited part of the country belonging to Mexico, and not to the U. S. and thereby had provoked the first act of hostility -- in fact the commencement of the war; that the place, being the country bordering on the East bank of the Rio Grande, was inhabited by native Mexicans, born there under the Mexican government; and had never submitted to, nor been conquered by Texas, or the U. S. nor transferred to either by treaty -- that although Texas claimed the Rio Grande as her boundary, Mexico had never recognized it, the people on the ground had never enforced, and recognized it, and neither Texas nor the U. S had ever enforced it -- that there was a broad desert between that, and the country over which Texas had actual control -- that the country where hostilities commenced, having once belonged to Mexico, must remain so, until it was somehow legally transferred, which had never been done.

 

Mr. L. thought the act of sending the troop an armed force to the among the Mexicans, was unnecessary, inasmuch as Mexico was in no way molesting, or menacing the U. S. or the people thereof; and that it was unconstitutional, because the power of levying war is vested in Congress, and not in the President. He thought the principal motive for the act, was to divert public attention from the surrender of "Fifty-four, forty, or fight" to Great Brittain, on the Oregon boundary question.

 

Mr. L. was not a candidate for re-election-- This was determined upon, and declared before he went to Washington, in accordance with an understanding among whig friends by which Col. Hardin, and Col. Baker had each previously served a single term in the same District--*⁸

 

In 1848, during his term in congress, he advocated Gen. Taylor's nomination for the Presidency, in opposition to all others, and also took an active part for his election, after his nomination -- speaking a few times in Maryland, near Washington, several times in Massachusetts, and canvassing quite fully his own district in Illinois, which was followed by a majority in the district of over 1500 for Gen. Taylor--

 

Upon his return from Congress he went to the practice of the law with greater earnestness than ever before-- In 1852 he was upon the Scott electoral ticket, and did something in the way of canvassing; but owing to the hopelessness of the cause in th Illinois, he did less than in previous presidential canvasses--

In 1854. his profession had almost superseded the thought of politics in his mind, when the repeal of the Missouri compromise aroused him as he had never been before. In the autumn of that year he took the stump with no broader practical aim or object that to secure, if possible, the re-election of Hon Richard Yates to congress-- His speeches at once attracted a more marked attention than they had ever before done-- As the canvass proceeded, he was drawn to different parts of the state, outside of Mr- Yates' district-- He did not abandon the law, but gave his attention, by turns, to that and politics-- The State agricultural fair was at Springfield that year, and Douglas was announ announced to speak there.⁹

 

In the canvass of 1856.¹⁰ Mr. L. made over fifty speeches, no one of which, so far as he remembers, was put in print-- One of them was made at Galena, but M r L. has no recollection of any part of it being printed; nor does he remember whether in that speech he said anything about a Supreme Court decision-- He may have spoken upon that subject; and some of the newspapers may have reported him as saying what is now ascribed to him; but he thinks he could not have expressed himself as represented--

 

[Note 1 This famous autobiography was labeled in his personal papers, probably by Lincoln's secretary, John G. Nicolay, as "Notes furnished by Mr. Lincoln in 1860." As early as 1858, Lincoln had been urged to put together an autobiographical statement that could be used to his political advantage, particularly for audiences that were unfamiliar with him. Early in Lincoln's senatorial campaign against Stephen A. Douglas, on June 29, 1858, Charles H. Ray of the newly consolidated Chicago Press & Tribune wrote to Lincoln: "We want an autobiography of Abraham Lincoln, the next U. S. Senator from Illinois, to be placed at our discretion, for publication if expedient. 'A plain unvarnished tale' is what we would desire. You are the only man who can furnish the facts. To save the imputation of having done it to us, you might give Herndon the points, and he would send them to us. We do not care for a narrative -- only a record of dates, place of nativity, parentage, early occupations, trials, disadvantages &c &c --- all of which will make, if we are rightly informed, a telling story." Lincoln's reply is lost, but it is clear from Ray's next letter that the candidate demurred. But Ray persisted. In his next letter he wrote: "In my way of thinking, you occupy a position, present and prospectively, that need not shrink from the declaration of an origin ever so humble. If you have been the architect of your own fortunes, you may claim the most merit. The best part of the Lincoln family is not, like potatoes, under the ground. Had you not better reconsider your refusal?" (See Ray to Lincoln, July, 1858).
That Lincoln did not reconsider is evident in a letter Ray subsequently sent him in late July from upstate New York: "You will not consider it an unfavorable reflection on your antecedents, when I tell you that you are like Byron, who woke up one morning and found himself famous. In my journey here from Chicago, and now here -- one of the most out-of-the-way, rural districts in the State, among a law-going and conservative people, who are further from railroads than any man can be in Illinois -- I have found hundreds of anxious enquiries burning to know all about the newly raised up opponent of Douglas -- his age, profession, personal appearance and qualities &c &c." (Ray to Lincoln, July 28, 1858).
Whether Lincoln actually relented and yielded to Ray's repeated requests is not known, but Ray's initial request -- "only a record of dates, place of nativity, parentage, early occupations, trials, disadvantages &c &c" -- seems an apt description of the autobiographical statements Lincoln eventually composed. What is clear is that the present document was not Lincoln's first such attempt. That was written some six months earlier and was sent to Jesse W. Fell on Dec. 20, 1859. (See Abraham Lincoln, Autobiographical Sketch for Jesse W. Fell, December 20, 1859). While it is written in the first, rather than the third person, and is much more succinct than the present statement, it follows a similar outline, and some of its phrases are repeated here.
It is sometimes assumed that the present autobiographical statement, the most extensive account Lincoln ever gave of his life, was written expressly for the use of campaign biographer and Chicago Press & Tribune editor John L. Scripps. But Scripps was only one of the recipients of the text of this autobiography, which was written soon after Lincoln's nomination for the presidency, probably by the end of May 1860. John G. Nicolay, writing to Jesse W. Weik on Feb. 13, 1895, explained:
"The autobiography beginning on page 638, Vol. I of the Lincoln Complete Works was written by Mr. Lincoln within a week or two after his first nomination. The request for it came first from friends in Columbus Ohio. who placed it with other material in the hands of W. D. Howells, and he wrote a campaign biography from it (about 100 pages) which together with several of Mr Lincoln's speeches, was printed in an ordinary campaign volume of about 400 pages; Follet Foster & Co being the publishers -- the same firm that published the Lincoln-Douglas Debates.
"The MS copy sent to Columbus was made by myself, being among my first work as Mr Lincoln's private secretary. Mr Lincoln's original MS, which is now in my possession, was retained to make other copies from. One of these went into Mr Scripp's hands, who wrote his campaign biography which was printed in pamphlet form (32 pages) and so far as I know, was not otherwise printed. This was issued as a campaign document by the Chicago Press and Tribune Co. A third copy went into the hands of Mr W. D. Bartlett, then Washington correspondent of the New York Independent and New York Evening Post. . . . Possibly other copies may have been made for o[t]hers, but I do not remember any. (John G. Nicolay Papers, Library of Congress)
A form letter in John G. Nicolay's hand in this collection, declining to provide biographical information about Lincoln to unknown correspondents, indicates that this text was not routinely given out.
The document transcribed here is in Lincoln's hand and represents the retained original, from which Nicolay made copies for the campaign biographers. The manuscript is written on 14 numbered leaves and two unnumbered slips. The first 12 pages seem to represent a fair copy, rather than a composition draft. This suggests that Lincoln either revised an existing text or composed a new one before making a fair copy, so as to eliminate strikeouts and changes. Pages 13 and 14 are on a different paper and contain a number of strikeouts and changes, suggesting the text on these pages appears as originally drafted. One of the unnumbered slips is marked with an asterisk to indicate the place at which its text was to be inserted. The other unnumbered slip, whose subject is Lincoln's purported remarks on the Supreme Court in an 1856 speech at Galena, may represent an afterthought, as Lincoln's autobiographical narrative ends in 1854. But it also seems to have been prompted by the need to respond to a particular charge, and thus may represent a remnant of an earlier account, perhaps dating from the 1858 campaign.]

[Note 2 The two previous sentences have been enclosed in parentheses, but these marks are in light pencil and were not part of the original composition. In light of the way other parenthetical marks appear in the manuscript, it seems highly unlikely that these light pencil marks were added by Lincoln himself.]

[Note 3 On May 9, 1860, at the Illinois State Republican convention, Lincoln's cousin John Hanks appeared carrying two fence rails purported to have been made by Lincoln 30 years before in Macon County, Illinois. Lincoln then spoke briefly, allowing to have split many rails in his youth. Much publicity was made from this, and Lincoln thus acquired an appealing popular image as a rail-splitter. And this reference is evidence that this version of the autobiography was written after May 9, 1860.]

[Note 4 Reuben Radford was a New Salem storekeeper whose place of business had been wrecked by vandals. Lincoln and a partner purchased Radford's stock of goods.]

[Note 5 William G. Berry was Lincoln's partner in storekeeping.]

[Note 6 John Calhoun was the Sangamon County surveyor at the time, a Democrat, and supporter of Stephen Douglas, who later made him surveyor-general of Kansas Territory. He presided over the Kansas convention that wrote the Lecompton Constitution.]

[Note 7 In January of 1837, the Illinois General Assembly considered a series of resolutions in response to petitions received from other state legislatures in regard to domestic slavery. In their original form, the resolutions were introduced by a preamble deploring the condition of slaves but holding that the Federal Government had no power to free them. The resolutions followed disapproved of abolition societies, asserted that property in slaves was protected by the Federal Constitution, and denied that the Federal Government could abolish slavery in the District of Columbia without the consent of the District's citizens. The resolutions were adopted after much debate and some amendment, but the amended version in which they were adopted has not been preserved. In any event Lincoln and Dan Stone found the final version so objectionable that they issued this protest on March 3, 1837:
"The following protest was presented to the House, which was read and ordered to be spread on the journals, to wit 'Resolutions upon the subject of domestic slavery having passed both branches of the General Assembly at its present session, the undersigned hereby protest against the passage of the same. They believe that the institution of slavery is founded on both injustice and bad policy; but that the promulgation of abolition doctrines tends rather to increase than to abate its evils. They believe that the Congress of the United States has no power, under the constitution, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the different States.
They believe that the Congress of the United States has the power, under the constitution, to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia; but that that power ought not to be exercised unless at the request of the people of said District. The difference between these opinions and those contained in the said resolutions, is their reason for entering this protest.'" (Illinois House Journal, 1836-37, 817-18)]

[Note 8 This asterisk indicates where the paragraph that follows (written on a detached slip) is to be inserted.]

[Note 9 Except for a disconnected paragraph on a separate slip about something that occurred in the canvass of 1856, Lincoln's autobiographical narrative ends rather abruptly at this point. What Lincoln seems about to describe, but does not, is his resoundingly successful response to Senator Stephen A. Douglas in the summer of 1854. As Lincoln was well aware, this was a breakthrough in his political fortunes. Thereafter, as he indicates, he found himself at the forefront of the fight over the Kansas-Nebraska Act, and his political career was reborn.]

[Note 10 This paragraph, which appears on a separate slip, seems to represent either an afterthought or a remnant of an earlier account. Lincoln is here responding to charges that he said something in Galena in 1856 that was inconsistent with his later statements on the Supreme Court decisions. As the Dred Scott decision of the Supreme Court was handed down in 1857, a decision Lincoln criticized then and later in his 1858 debates with Douglas, it is possible that this slip was written out for an earlier autobiographical statement.]