U.S. Postmaster General - 1861-64; Brother of Francis P. Blair, Jr.; Mayor of St. Louis – 1842-43; Counsel for Dred Scott before the U.S. Supreme Court

“…I have written to Col. Fremont by this mail & via Nicaragua at considerable length…”

Autograph Letter Signed, 2 ½ pages, on a folded 8” x 10” letter-sheet. Writing to his sister from San Francisco, Blair discusses his health and laboriously explains his difficulty in writing. He further mentions business matters with John C. Fremont, the noted western explorer whom the influential and politically connected Blair family had backed in the presidential election of 1856.

“San Francisco, Aug. 16, [18]59. My dear Sister, I have nothing to write & have written to Mary sending d[ra]fts. You will hear from her every thing I have to say but still I like to say a word or so to you all at Silver Spring where so large a part of my affections dwell. I have not been quite well & am not yet as well as I would like to be. But I really think it is home sickness as much as any thing else that ails me. I have had occasional symptoms lately of a return of the Panama fever but I have stopped them & am now [?] on matters very energetically. Don’t tell momma a word of this for the sound would for she…go mad about it. I wrote home because you would expect longer & fuller letters than I can write. I have written her tho at my usual length tho I found it hard work to find matter to fill my sheets to her…I am now in no mood to dwell here or on things here in any letters I want to get away. But I start [?] I get every thing fixed so I can leave [?] in good condition. Write me therefore just as if I were a fixture – tho the thought of such a prospect would slay me outright.

I have written to Col. Fremont by this mail & via Nicaragua at considerable length & about some matters of importance to him. You say that since writing I have had a conversation with J[?] who tells me he has a power of atty. & promised to bring it here to my office yesterday. But he did not. I seldom see him & don’t know where to hunt him. I suppose he will turn up in a few days again & if his [?] are sufficient. I will get him to act on them & get a contract with Palmer to set aside proceedings in case not approved by Fremont.

Our promising uncle James D. Blair has put around here from the Sandwich Islands whence he hails now. I have not seen him & shall not seek him. It is just as well to keep at a respectful distance from such fellows especially when they [word omitted] of him to you. Y[ou]rs Aff[ectionatel]y, M. Blair.

Ned [?] & his wife & the cooks [are] better than I have seen her in years very much improved & she has got that if nothing else by coming here. She sends love to you & mother.”

Overall condition is very good, with the usual folds and a few small stains.

As Lincoln’s Treasury Secretary, Chase was instrumental in the efforts to finance the war and was responsible for the issue and acceptance of paper money as legal tender. Continued rivalry and strife with Lincoln precipitated his appointment to fill the Supreme Court vacancy created by the death of Roger B. Taney in 1864.

Ordering Copies of His Senate Speech Against the Fugitive Slave Act

Autograph Letter Signed, 4 ½” x 5”, as a first-term U.S. Senator from Ohio, requesting additional copies of his speech, probably Chase’s impassioned oration opposing the Fugitive Slave Act, a provision in the Compromise of 1850 which required northern citizens to assist in the return of suspected runaway slaves to the South, delivered before the U.S. Senate on March 26 – 27, 1850.

“Wash[ingto]n, May 6, [18]50. Dear Sir, Please send me 20 more copies of my speech, in packages of 5 each, as the enclosed $1 will pay for. Y[ou]rs, S.P. Chase.”

Lightly and evenly toned, with several horizontal folds and minor paper loss at the corners.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice – 1862-77 – Appointed by Abraham Lincoln; U.S. Senator – Illinois – 1877-83

Letter Signed, in violet ink on 5” x 5 ¾” stationery, imprinted “Vice-President’s Chamber, Washington,” to a recipient identified only as “Mr. French.” While serving as President of the U.S. Senate, a position he held from 1881-83, Davis recommends a man for a postal department appointment in Indianapolis.

“March 23, 1882. Dear Sir: Mr. W.L. Rutledge, who has had from merit two promotions in the postal service, would be gratified to fill a vacancy, caused, or to be caused, by the retirement of Mr. Palmer at Indianapolis. He has proved his fitness signally, and under the rules which recognize capacity, fidelity and integrity, he certainly deserves this new mark of confidence. Very Respectfully, David Davis.”

The letter-sheet is lightly and evenly toned, with a horizontal fold at the center and a few superficial stains.

Union Brevet Brigadier General; Assistant U.S. Secretary of War – 1866-67; President of Western Union – 1892-1902

Eckert served on the staff of George McClellan as head of the Army of the Potomac telegraph operations during the Peninsula campaign. Later transferred to the War Department telegraph office, he became close to President Lincoln as the two spent hours together awaiting news from the front. Lincoln invited Eckert to accompany him to Ford’s Theater on the night of the assassination, but Stanton prevented his going, claiming that Eckert had too much work to do. After the war, Eckert served briefly as assistant secretary of war and later became president of the Western Union Telegraph Company.

Signature, “Thos. T. Eckert,” on a 1 ¼” x 3” slip of lined paper, affixed to heavier stock.

U.S. Vice President - 1861-65; Governor & Senator - Maine

Signature, as U.S. Senator, on a 6” x 8 ¼” sheet, for a fellow resident of Maine.

“S.S.Brooks, Augusta, Maine. From H. Hamlin, Washington, D.C., 1858.”

The overall condition is excellent, with a few small stains and light creases.

Personal Secretary of Abraham Lincoln; U.S. Secretary of State - 1898-1905 – McKinley & Roosevelt Administrations

Hay became a friend of Lincoln while studying law in Springfield, Illinois and accompanied him to Washington to become one of his personal secretaries. After the war, Hay and Nicolay wrote their biography of Lincoln, and Hay served as Secretary of State under McKinley and Roosevelt from 1898 through 1905.

Autograph Letter Signed, two pages, on the first and third leaves of a 5 ¼” x 8” letter-sheet. Addressing former Union General Frederick Tracy Dent, brother-in-law and secretary of President Ulysses S. Grant, Hay seeks the help of the President in securing his brother’s advancement in the military.

“New York, August 31 [no year]. My Dear General Dent, Enclosed you will find the note to the President which you suggested I should write. My brother Lieutenant Leonard Hay is Adjutant of the 9^th Infantry. He likes the service and desires to remain in it. I know him to be a very efficient and valuable officer and if you can do anything to promote his wishes, I am sure it will be to the advantage of the service, and will lay me under great personal obligations. I am very faithfully yours, John Hay. P.S. My address will be for the present ‘Republican Office, Chicago’ where I am always at your disposition.”

Beneath Hay’s closing and signature, General Dent has written and initialed a biographical notation of Hay, in pencil, “Private Sec[retary] of President Lincoln and author of Jim Beldsoe & little breeches. F.T.D.”

The letter-sheet bears the usual light toning, and there is weakness and clean separation, with no loss of paper, at the edges of two horizontal folds. The text of the letter is unaffected by a three-quarter inch area of paper loss in the upper margin of the second page.

Sixteenth U.S. President - 1861-65

A Request for a Lieutenant’s Promotion – Just Two Months Before He was Mortally Wounded at Cedar Creek

“The above, written by a very good man, is submitted to the Secretary of War. A. Lincoln.”

Noted as a resident of Allentown, Pennsylvania in the accompanying National Archives records, Mr. Baldwin was undoubtedly a caller at the Executive Mansion, and was directed to write his request, hoping that President Lincoln would approve and advance it through the proper channels. His letter, accomplished in pencil, in full:

“Aug. 12^th 1864. To His Excellency, Abraham Lincoln, President of the U.S. I desire the transfer or promotion of my brother, Lt. Henry M. Baldwin, Battery M, 5^th Reg[imen]t U.S. Artillery, to any vacancy in the Regt. which you may decide it possible to place him, consistent with the good of the service. Very Resp[ectfull]y, F.H. Baldwin.”

There is no record of Lieutenant Baldwin’s promotion or transfer before he was severely wounded through the chest and left arm on October 19, 1864 – just two months later - at the Battle of Cedar Creek. He died on November 8, 1864 at Sheridan Hospital, near Winchester, Virginia.

The letter is in excellent condition, with creases from two vertical folds.                                                                                      

Sixteenth U.S. President - 1861-65

Civil War-Date Document Signed, 11" x 18", as President during the final two months of his life, Washington, D.C., February 14, 1865, “Abraham Lincoln,” a partly printed appointment for “…Ayres Stockley…Deputy Postmaster at Rockland, in the State of Michigan.” Countersigned by the Secretary of State, “William H. Seward.”

Born in Philadelphia in 1824, Ayres Stockley settled in Michigan in the 1850’s. He died at Calumet on May 27, 1911 and was buried in Evergreen Cemetery in Ontonagon, Michigan.

There is staining in the center, and slight bleeding of ink in Lincoln’s signature; clean separation and superficial paper loss along and at the intersections of the usual folds.

Sixteenth U.S. President - 1861-65

Civil War-Date Document Signed, 15” x 19”, as President, Washington, July 29, 1861, “Abraham Lincoln,” a partly printed appointment for “…Stephen Brooks…Surveyor of the Customs for the District of Middletown in the State of Connecticut.” Countersigned by the Secretary of the Treasury, “S.P. Chase.”

The document is in excellent overall condition, with light age toning and several minor paper breaks at the intersections of the usual folds. Both signatures are distinct and free from flaw in every respect.

Sixteenth U.S. President - 1861-65

Civil War-Date Franked Envelope, 3” x 5 ¼”, as President, “A. Lincoln.” The envelope is also addressed by Lincoln, to “Rev[erend] Z.P. Wilds, 120 Prince Street, New York,” and has a June 21, 1862, Washington postmark.

The previous day, Lincoln met with a six-member delegation of Progressive Friends, composed of Thomas Garrett, Alice Eliza Hambleton, Oliver Johnson, Dinah Mendenhall, William Barnard, and Eliza Agnew. The group presented the President with a memorial, urging him to decree the emancipation of the slaves, the position adopted at the Friends’ annual meeting. It is quite worthy of note that Lincoln wrote Reverend Wilds, well known as a longtime missionary to the poor of New York City, the day following his meeting with this group of prominent leaders in the Abolition and Underground Railroad movements.

Set into an attractive, inlaid pedestal frame, the envelope bears general soiling and wear, along with minor paper loss along the right edge and above the somewhat smudged postmark.

U.S. Secretary of War - 1881-85; Son of Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln

Signed Card, 1 ¾” x 3”, “Robert T. Lincoln.”

The card is lightly and evenly toned, with old mounting traces on the reverse. It is accompanied by an illustrated trade card from an Amsterdam, New York grocer.

U.S. Treasury Secretary – 1865-69 & 1884-85

Autograph Letter Signed, 1 ½ pages, on the first and fourth pages of a 5” x 8” letter-sheet, imprinted Jay Cooke, McCulloch & Co., 41 Lombard Street, London, E.C. As a partner in the London banking house of noted financier Jay Cooke, McCulloch introduces and recommends a publisher to another company official, “F.O. French, Esq., Office of Jay Cooke & Co., Corner of Wall & Nassau St., New York.”

“April 26, 1873. My Dear Mr. French, I have pleasure in introducing to you T.D. Galpin, Esq. of the firm of Messrs. Cassel Pettis & Galpin, which is said to be one of the largest publishing houses in the world. Mr. Galpin is you will perceive instructed in the question of ‘International Copyright’ upon which he is thoroughly informed. Mr. Galpin is an able man and I shall be obliged to you for such courtesies as may render his visit to New York agreeable and such introduction as may be of service to him. Very Truly Yours, H. McCulloch…”

Ruined by speculation in the construction of the Northern Pacific Railroad, Jay Cooke & Co., along with McCulloch’s London branch, closed its doors later in the year, bringing about the downfall of numerous other banking houses and contributing to the Panic of 1873.

The letter is easily displayable as one piece when unfolded, as illustrated.

Private Secretary of Abraham Lincoln

A prominent Illinois newspaper editor, Nicolay served as Lincoln’s private secretary from 1860 through the end of the Civil War. After the war, he served as U.S. consul in Paris and marshal of the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1890, he and John Hay published their ten-volume biography of Lincoln.

“…In the revision of our book, the suggestions you make will naturally come under consideration…”

Letter Signed, on the imprinted 5” x 8” stationery of the U.S. Supreme Court. During his tenure as marshal of the court, Nicolay thanks “S.P. Leeds, Esq., Hanover, N.H.” for information relating to the official biography of Abraham Lincoln, at the time a work in progress being co-authored with fellow Lincoln secretary John Hay. Released serially in Century Magazine from 1886 to 1890, Abraham Lincoln: A History was first published in book form in 1890.

“Deerfield, Mass., July 10^th 1887. My dear Sir: Accept our thanks for your kind letter of the 5^th, the answer to which has been delayed by my summer vacation trip. In the revision for our book, the suggestions you make will naturally come under consideration. We are of course gratified by the generous commendations you are pleased to bestow on our work. Yours truly, Jno. G. Nicolay.”

The letter is lightly and evenly toned, with two horizontal folds, and there is minor brushing of ink at the conclusion of Nicolay’s signature.

Private Secretary of Abraham Lincoln

A prominent Illinois newspaper editor, Nicolay served as Lincoln’s private secretary from 1860 through the end of the Civil War. After the war, he served as U.S. consul in Paris and marshal of the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1890, he and John Hay published their ten-volume biography of Lincoln.

Civil War-Date Autograph Letter Signed, on imprinted 5” x 8” Executive Mansion stationery as private secretary to President Lincoln. On Christmas Eve of the war’s last full year, Nicolay writes to “H.A. Risley, Esq.,” at the time a Special U.S. Treasury Agent in Norfolk, Virginia,regarding his help with an unspecified matter.

“Washington, Dec. 24, 1864. My dear Mr. Risley, Much obliged. There is no immediate hurry. A few days hence will do as well. Yours truly, Jno. G. Nicolay.”

In July 1864, President Lincoln signed an Act of Congress authorizing the government’s purchase of products, mostly cotton, from persons deemed to be loyal U.S. citizens in Union-controlled areas of the South. The law was intended to further deprive the Confederacy of anything which could be sold for hard currency, to shore up the U.S. Treasury’s war-depleted gold reserves, and to ensure the continued neutrality of England and France by maintaining a supply of southern cotton on the market.

A lifelong friend of U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward, Hanson A. Risley was appointed Supervising Treasury Agent later in the year, assigned to oversee the purchase, safe transport, and delivery of the southern products in Norfolk and New York. During the ensuing months, Lincoln communicated with Risley regularly about the granting of cotton-trading permits, most given dubiously to friends of either Lincoln or New York political boss Thurlow Weed. This short, mysterious letter is undoubtedly one such correspondence.

Condition is nearly pristine, with two light horizontal folds.

Private Secretary of Abraham Lincoln

A prominent Illinois newspaper editor, Nicolay served as Lincoln’s private secretary from 1860 through the end of the Civil War. After the war, he served as U.S. consul in Paris and marshal of the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1890, he and John Hay published their ten-volume biography of Lincoln.

Document Signed, 10” x 16”, as Marshal of the U.S. Supreme Court, “Jno. G. Nicolay, Marshal,” a manuscript statement of disbursements of the court for the first quarter of 1879, amounting to $11,321.40.

The document is in excellent condition, with tiny pinholes at the center intersections of the usual folds.

Private Secretary of Abraham Lincoln

A prominent Illinois newspaper editor, Nicolay served as Lincoln’s private secretary from 1860 through the end of the Civil War. After the war, he served as U.S. consul in Paris and marshal of the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1890, he and John Hay published their ten-volume biography of Lincoln.

Signature, probably a free-frank, “…the President of the United States, Jno. G. Nicolay, Priv. Sec.,” on an imprinted 1 ¼” x 3 ¼” slip of paper, as private secretary to President Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War.

The left corners have been clipped diagonally.

Union Major General – Illinois; Governor of Illinois – 1864-69, 1873, 1885-89; Republican U.S. Senator – Illinois – 1873-79

Oglesby led the 8^th Illinois Infantry at Forts Henry and Donelson, was severely wounded at Corinth, and commanded a division in the 16^th Corps, before resigning for a successful Illinois gubernatorial bid.

Signed Card, 2 ¼” x 3 ¼”, “R.J. Oglesby, Nov[ember] 1^st 1886,” as Governor of Illinois; accompanied by the transmittal envelope, postmarked November 17, 1886, Springfield, Illinois.

U.S. Secretary of State - 1861-69

Despite being a contender for the Republican presidential nomination in 1860, Seward served effectively in Lincoln’s cabinet. He was injured on the night of April 14, 1865 in the assassination plot which took the life of Lincoln. His most notable post-war achievement was the acquisition of Alaska in 1867.

Sending Information on the Chiriqui Improvement Company – A Plan to Colonize Freed Blacks in Panama

Civil War-Date Letter Signed, on imprinted 8” x 10” stationery as U.S. Secretary of State, to “Aaron A. Degraw, Esquire, No. 242 South St., New York.” In a formal, businesslike manner, Seward conveys information relating to the Chiriqui Improvement Company, one of several early-war proposals put forth by the State Department to colonize black freedmen outside the country, in this case to the area around the harbor of Chiriqui in the northwestern corner of Panama.

“Department of State, Washington, August 13, 1863…Sir: Your letter of the 12^th instant has been received. This department has no knowledge of any pecuniary transaction of this Government with Mr. Ambrose Thompson relative to the Chiriqui Improvement Company, or in relation to any other matter. I am, Sir, your obedient servant, William H. Seward.”

A Philadelphia businessman and shipping magnate, Ambrose Thompson was a key figure in the colonization schemes. Early in the war, Thompson planned to provide coal mined on property he owned in the Chiriqui area to the Union Navy; the land would later be used as a permanent settlement for the freed blacks. President Lincoln appointed a commission to investigate Thompson’s proposal, referring its favorable endorsement of colonization in his December 1861 message to Congress. Early difficulties with acquisition of the land, subject to treaty obligations, along with a gradual weakening of political resolve for colonization in general, forced the abandonment of the colonization proposals, including Chiriqui, by early 1863.

The sheet has light toning and wear, along with weakness and slight paper separation at the edges of two horizontal folds.