LINCOLN, ABRAHAM, President . Autograph letter signed ("A. Lincoln") as President, to "Mrs. Gov. French," wife of former Illinois Governor Augustus C. French, Washington, D.C., 16 May 1864. 1 page, 4to, on Executive Mansion stationery, integral blank, in very fine condition.
LINCOLN, ABRAHAM, President . Autograph letter signed ("A. Lincoln") as President, to "Mrs. Gov. French," wife of former Illinois Governor Augustus C. French, Washington, D.C., 16 May 1864. 1 page, 4to, on Executive Mansion stationery, integral blank, in very fine condition. "TO RELIEVE AND COMFORT OUR BRAVE SOLDIERS": AS FIGHTING RAGES AT SPOTSYLVANIA, LINCOLN FURNISHES HIS AUTOGRAPH "Mrs. L[incoln] tells me that you request my autograph to be used at the Mississippi Valley Sanitary Fair. Though much pressed for time, some portion spent in efforts to relieve and comfort our brave soldiers can not but be well spent. Therefore I cheerfully send the autograph. Yours very truly A. Lincoln." The Spring campaign of the Army of the Potomac was launched on 5 May 1864. Grant's Army of the Potomac, 65,000 strong, crossed the Rappahannock. Lee's Confederates fought tenaciously in thickly wooded terrain which came to be called "the Wilderness." There, Grant's armies suffered the heaviest Union casualties of the entire war. From May 9 to 18th Grant's and Lee's armies battled relentlessly near the courthouse at Spotsylvania. In the first 30 days of the campaign, Union casualties totalled over 100,000 men killed and wounded. Lincoln was characteristically generous in his support of the various Sanitary Fairs, held throughout the war to raise money for the relief of sick and wounded Union soldiers. In January 1864 Lincoln donated a handwritten copy of his Gettysburg Address to the Metropolitan Sanitary Fair, held in New York in April 1864 (that copy now at the Illinois State Historical Library). In February the President copied it again at the request of George Bancroft for the Baltimore Sanitary Fair. That fair copy (now in the Cornell University Library), proved unsuitable in format for a volume of lithographic facsimiles planned by the fair's organizers, so Lincoln wrote out yet another transcript (now in the Lincoln Room at the White House). On March 2, Lincoln penned a brief letter to for the Brooklyn Sanitary Fair (see Basler vii:220) That letter, it is recorded, sold for the astonishingly high price (for its time) of $100.00 (Basler, 7:220). In addition to the solicitations of Mary Lincoln mentioned here, Lincoln was importuned by at least one other person on behalf of the Sanitary Fair. On May 14, Representative Joseph W. McClurg of Missouri solicited a "photograph and autograph at the Mississippi Valley Sanitary Fair. I hope you will see proper to gratify those who do so much desire them...." Lincoln, in a similar letter to L.J. Cist, was pleased to comply (see Basler, 7:343). The Mississippi Valley Sanitary Fair, held from 17 May to l8 June at St. Louis, was the longest running of all the Civil War sanitary fairs, and grossed over half a million dollars for the relief of stricken Union soldiers. Two days after the formal opening ceremonies, Alfred Mackay, an officer of the fair commission, telegraphed the President: "The officers & executive committees...greet you warmly & desire that your endeavours to suppress the rebellion will be crowned with success. Our fair has opened splendidly. The Mississippi Valley will do her full share to aid the sick & wounded soldiers. God bless you" (Basler, 7:353n). We have been unable to to determine whether the present letter was in fact, sold at auction during the Fair. For further details on the Fair see, P. & M. Kantor, (1990), pp.167ff. The letter is published in Collected Works , First Supplement, p.242; noted in Lincoln Day by Day , 1991, 2:258. Provenence : Cyrus French Wicker, a descendant of Mrs. French - a descendant (sale, Christies, 9 December 1993, lot 202).
LINCOLN, ABRAHAM, President . Autograph letter signed ("A. Lincoln") as President, to "Mrs. Gov. French," wife of former Illinois Governor Augustus C. French, Washington, D.C., 16 May 1864. 1 page, 4to, on Executive Mansion stationery, integral blank, in very fine condition.
LINCOLN, ABRAHAM, President . Autograph letter signed ("A. Lincoln") as President, to "Mrs. Gov. French," wife of former Illinois Governor Augustus C. French, Washington, D.C., 16 May 1864. 1 page, 4to, on Executive Mansion stationery, integral blank, in very fine condition. "TO RELIEVE AND COMFORT OUR BRAVE SOLDIERS": AS FIGHTING RAGES AT SPOTSYLVANIA, LINCOLN FURNISHES HIS AUTOGRAPH "Mrs. L[incoln] tells me that you request my autograph to be used at the Mississippi Valley Sanitary Fair. Though much pressed for time, some portion spent in efforts to relieve and comfort our brave soldiers can not but be well spent. Therefore I cheerfully send the autograph. Yours very truly A. Lincoln." The Spring campaign of the Army of the Potomac was launched on 5 May 1864. Grant's Army of the Potomac, 65,000 strong, crossed the Rappahannock. Lee's Confederates fought tenaciously in thickly wooded terrain which came to be called "the Wilderness." There, Grant's armies suffered the heaviest Union casualties of the entire war. From May 9 to 18th Grant's and Lee's armies battled relentlessly near the courthouse at Spotsylvania. In the first 30 days of the campaign, Union casualties totalled over 100,000 men killed and wounded. Lincoln was characteristically generous in his support of the various Sanitary Fairs, held throughout the war to raise money for the relief of sick and wounded Union soldiers. In January 1864 Lincoln donated a handwritten copy of his Gettysburg Address to the Metropolitan Sanitary Fair, held in New York in April 1864 (that copy now at the Illinois State Historical Library). In February the President copied it again at the request of George Bancroft for the Baltimore Sanitary Fair. That fair copy (now in the Cornell University Library), proved unsuitable in format for a volume of lithographic facsimiles planned by the fair's organizers, so Lincoln wrote out yet another transcript (now in the Lincoln Room at the White House). On March 2, Lincoln penned a brief letter to for the Brooklyn Sanitary Fair (see Basler vii:220) That letter, it is recorded, sold for the astonishingly high price (for its time) of $100.00 (Basler, 7:220). In addition to the solicitations of Mary Lincoln mentioned here, Lincoln was importuned by at least one other person on behalf of the Sanitary Fair. On May 14, Representative Joseph W. McClurg of Missouri solicited a "photograph and autograph at the Mississippi Valley Sanitary Fair. I hope you will see proper to gratify those who do so much desire them...." Lincoln, in a similar letter to L.J. Cist, was pleased to comply (see Basler, 7:343). The Mississippi Valley Sanitary Fair, held from 17 May to l8 June at St. Louis, was the longest running of all the Civil War sanitary fairs, and grossed over half a million dollars for the relief of stricken Union soldiers. Two days after the formal opening ceremonies, Alfred Mackay, an officer of the fair commission, telegraphed the President: "The officers & executive committees...greet you warmly & desire that your endeavours to suppress the rebellion will be crowned with success. Our fair has opened splendidly. The Mississippi Valley will do her full share to aid the sick & wounded soldiers. God bless you" (Basler, 7:353n). We have been unable to to determine whether the present letter was in fact, sold at auction during the Fair. For further details on the Fair see, P. & M. Kantor, (1990), pp.167ff. The letter is published in Collected Works , First Supplement, p.242; noted in Lincoln Day by Day , 1991, 2:258. Provenence : Cyrus French Wicker, a descendant of Mrs. French - a descendant (sale, Christies, 9 December 1993, lot 202).
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