Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln to William Martin, 19 July 18511
Springfield, July 19– 1851.Dear Sir:
Yours of the 17^th is received, and I have just been to the telegraph office with it–2 The operator, after a long examination, declares that no such despach ever went from this office— at least, never in the months of February ^or March,^ last– He then got up a correspondence with the operator at Alton, who, he says, tells him no such despach was ever received there— that he has seen what purports to be the despach in the hands of you or your client, and that he will swear he never wrote it–3

I do not see that I can do any more–4
Yours trulyA. Lincoln

[ docketing ]
January 23^d

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SPRINGFIELD Ill.[Illinois]
JUL[July] 20Hon[Honorable]: W^m MartinAltonIllinois–

[ docketing ]
A. Lincoln
July 18515

[ endorsement ]
one to Magher,
25.th January 1851,
To Michael M^cCormack care of James Lamb
Springfield Ill,
24 Jan[January] 1851,
Your [horse?] is bad. Cannot work any longer He is sick dont want to keep him any longerThos[Thomas] Meagher6

1Abraham Lincoln wrote and signed this letter. He also wrote William Martin’s name and address on the last sheet, which was folded to make an envelope.

2Martin’s letter of July 17, 1851, has not been located.

3The respective telegraph operators of Springfield and Alton has not been identified.

4Between February and August 1851, Lincoln wrote Martin an additional ten letters on legal matters, most relating Martin’s legal work in the Madison County Circuit Court for the Alton & Sangamon Railroad Company, which had retained Martin and Lincoln & Herndon to collect balances due on shares of capital stock purchased by stockholders. None of Martin’s letters to Lincoln from this period are extant. It appears that this involves a separate legal issue, as none of the individuals included in the telegram text presumably written by Martin on the verso were principals in the railroad cases.
Alton & Sangamon RR v. Barret , 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=138164; Daniel W. Stowell et al., eds., The Papers of Abraham Lincoln: Legal Documents and Cases (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2008), 2:172-210; Roy P. Basler, ed., The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1953), 2:106; Abraham Lincoln to William Martin; Abraham Lincoln to William Martin; Abraham Lincoln to William Martin; Abraham Lincoln to William Martin; Abraham Lincoln to William Martin; Abraham Lincoln to William Martin; Abraham Lincoln to William Martin; Abraham Lincoln to William Martin; Abraham Lincoln to William Martin; Abraham Lincoln to William Martin.

5Martin wrote this docketing.

6Martin wrote this text. The text after the notation “one to Magher, 25.th January 1851,” is presumably the telegram sent about which Martin inquired and Lincoln investigated. Martin continued to press Lincoln on the subject, and Lincoln wrote Martin two further letters, one on July 26 and one on July 31, relaying the results of his investigation. The final disposition of the case is unknown.
Roy P. Basler, editor of The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, speculated that “Thos Meagher” could have been Thomas F. Meagher, the Irish nationalist and served in the U.S. Army during the Civil War. Meagher did not arrive in the United States until May 1852, however, and though the Springfield press hoped Meagher would visit the city during a trip to St. Louis, there no evidence that Meagher visited Springfield or Alton. Michael McCormack has also not been positively identified.
Roy P. Basler, ed., The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, 2:106; Illinois Daily Journal (Springfield), 29 December 1852, 3:1; Michael Cavanagh, Memoirs of Gen. Thomas Francis Meagher (Worcester, MA: Messenger, 1892), 309.