Letter, 1862

[Letter] 1862 September 10 / [Abraham]. Lincoln.

Lincoln states that if another quartermaster is needed, Mr. David A. Smith is "amply recommended" and could be appointed. On the same sheet are warm endorsements from military men B.C. Christy and Benjamin F. Porter, both dated August 3, 1862. On the verso are recommendations from Leo Chandler, dated August 5, and General Stevens, dated August 4. The self-educated son of a Kentucky frontiersman, Lincoln served as a Captain in the Black Hawk War, worked as a lawyer, and served as a Representative from Illinois (1847-1849); the national reputation he won in debates with Stephen Douglas for the Senate seat in 1858 (which Douglas won) led to his election as the 16th President of the United States in 1860. He led the Union through the Civil War, giving the Gettysburg Address and signing the Emancipation Proclamation freeing the slaves (1863); he was reelected in 1864 and assassinated in 1865 at Ford's Theater by John Wilkes Booth.

Higher resolution is available at "I Remain: A Digital Archive of Letters, manuscripts and Ephemera": http://digital.lib.lehigh.edu/remain/search.php?searchletters=authsearch219