The Illinois General Assembly chartered the railroad in February 1847 to construct and operate a railroad between Alton, Illinois, via New Berlin, and Springfield, Illinois. Section two of the company’s charter allowed the incorporators to issue $500,000 in stock at $100 per share, and section six required subscribers to purchase stock by paying $5 on each share subscribed at the time of subscribing and the balance in installments called for by a board of directors. The incorporators opened subscription for stock in May 1847. Many stock subscribers owned property near the proposed route. On January 29, 1851, however, the General Assembly altered the charter to allow the company to construct the road on a more direct route, bypassing the property of several stockholders. Believing that the change in route voided their subscription agreements, several investors refused to pay their remaining installments, and the company hired Lincoln & Herndon to collect the full subscriptions. Barret, Klein, Burkhardt, and several of the delinquent subscribers were from Sangamon County, Illinois, and thirty-seven were from Madison County, Illinois. William Martin was among the incorporators. Lincoln wrote three letters to Martin prior to this letter, each regarding these suits.

Lincoln originally planned to also bring suit against Thomas J. Kirkpatrick, but in a letter to Martin on February 19, Lincoln wrote that Kirkpatrick had paid his installments, and the railroad dismissed its case against him. Lincoln continued to work on the three other lawsuits. In addition to the letter on February 19, Lincoln wrote two other letters to Martin prior to this letter to Isaac Gibson, one on February 21 and one on February 24. In his letters of February 19 and 21, Lincoln requested the name of either the clerk or secretary of the railroad. Martin responded on the February 21. Martin’s letter has not been located, and its contents remain unknown, but he probably provided Lincoln with the name of Isaac Gibson, the secretary.