Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln to James Steele and Charles Summers, 12 February 18571
Springfield, Feb. 12^th 1857Messrs[Messieurs] Steele & SummersGentlemen
Yours of the 10^th covering a claim of M^r D. A. Morrison against the Illinois Central Railroad Company is received–2 I have been in the regular retainer of the Co. for two or three years; but I expect they do not wish to retain me any longer–3 The road not passing this point, there is no one here for me to present the claim to–4

I have concluded to say to you, that I am going to Chicago, if nothing prevents, on the 21^st Ins^t and I will then ascertain whether they discharge me;5 & if they do, as I expect, I will attend to your business & write you– If this is satisfactory, let it so stand— if not write me at once–6
Yours trulyA. Lincoln

1Abraham Lincoln wrote and signed this letter.

2Neither a letter from James Steele and Charles Summers to Abraham Lincoln of February 10, 1857, nor the claim of David A. Morrison which it covered has been located.
Morrison and John Crabtree brought suit against the Illinois Central Railroad in Coles County Circuit Court in May 1857. The pair had shipped four hundred cattle from Urbana to Chicago on the railroad, one of which died, and several others of which suffered weight loss due to delays in transit. The jury found in favor of Morrison and Crabtree and awarded them $1,200 in damages.
Morrison & Crabtree v. Illinois Central RR, Martha L. Benner and Cullom Davis et al., eds., The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln: Complete Documentary Edition, 2d edition (Springfield: Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, 2009), http://www.lawpracticeofabrahamlincoln.org/Details.aspx?case=135669.

3Lincoln had been on retainer with the Illinois Central Railroad since the autumn of 1853 but was apparently uncertain of his current employment with the railroad due to their delinquency in paying him. In July 1856, he had presented the railroad’s attorneys with a bill for his work on behalf of the Illinois Central in the case of Illinois Central RR v. McLean County, Illinois & Parke. That case had been finally decided in January 1856 in the Illinois Supreme Court, which upheld the railroad’s charter as constitutional, and affirmed that under the charter counties could not tax the railroad. At the time of this letter, Lincoln was still awaiting payment from the railroad, and he ultimately instituted a suit against the Illinois Central in McLean County Circuit Court in April 1857 in order to collect his fees in the case. He claimed $6,000 in damages and was awarded $5,000 by a jury in June 1857. This amount was adjusted down to $4,800 in consideration of a retainer Lincoln had earlier received from the railroad. He received payment from the railroad in this amount in August 1857.
Receipt of Abraham Lincoln to Illinois Central Railroad Company; Abraham Lincoln to Ebenezer Lane; Illinois Central RR v. McLean County, Illinois & Parke, Martha L. Benner and Cullom Davis et al., eds., The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln: Complete Documentary Edition, http://www.lawpracticeofabrahamlincoln.org/Details.aspx?case=136867; http://www.lawpracticeofabrahamlincoln.org/Details.aspx?case=136868; Lincoln v. Illinois Central RR, Martha L. Benner and Cullom Davis et al., eds., The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln: Complete Documentary Edition, http://www.lawpracticeofabrahamlincoln.org/Details.aspx?case=136777; Harry E. Pratt, The Personal Finances of Abraham Lincoln (Springfield, IL: Abraham Lincoln Association, 1943), 50-54.

4The Illinois Central Railroad did not travel through Springfield. The nearest line of the railroad extended between Galena in Northern Illinois and Cairo in the southern part of the state, and ran to the east of Springfield through Bloomington and Decatur.
John F. Stover, History of the Illinois Central Railroad (New York: Macmillan, 1975), 56.

5It is unclear if Lincoln arrived in Chicago on February 21, 1857, but he was in that city by February 28, and left it to return to Springfield on March 4. No evidence regarding a consultation by Lincoln with the Illinois Central Railroad at this time has been located.

The Lincoln Log: A Daily Chronology of the Life of Abraham Lincoln, 28 February 1857, http://www.thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1857-02-28; 4 March 1857, http://www.thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1857-03-04.

6No response to this letter nor further correspondence on this subject has been located.
The Illinois Central Railroad continued to employ Lincoln, and he served as one of the attorneys for the railroad in their appeal of the verdict in Morrison & Crabtree v. Illinois Central RR. The appeal was heard in the Illinois Supreme Court in December 1857, and the court reversed and remanded the original verdict. The case then returned to the Coles County Circuit Court, where it was finally decided in favor of Morrison and Crabtree in April 1859, and the pair were awarded $1,069, which the railroad paid.
Illinois Central RR v. Morrison & Crabtree, Martha L. Benner and Cullom Davis et al., eds., The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln: Complete Documentary Edition, http://www.lawpracticeofabrahamlincoln.org/Details.aspx?case=135671; Morrison & Crabtree v. Illinois Central RR, Martha L. Benner and Cullom Davis et al., eds., The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln: Complete Documentary Edition, http://www.lawpracticeofabrahamlincoln.org/Details.aspx?case=135670.