Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln to Peter H. Watson, 23 July 18551
Springfield, Ill., July 23, 1855.P. H. Watson, Esq. [Esquire],Washington, D.C.,My dear Sir:
At our interview here in Junc, I understood you to say you would send me copies of the Bill and Answer in the case of McCormick vs. Manny and Co. and also of depositions, as fast as they could be taken and printed.2 I have had nothing from you since. However, I attended the U.S. Court at Chicago, and while there, got copies of the Bill and Answer.3 I write this particularly to urge you to forward on to me the additional evidence as fast as you can. During August, and the remainder of this month, I can devote some time to the case, and, of course, I want all the material that can be had.

During my stay at Chicago, I went out to Rockford, and spent half a day, examining and studying Manny’s Machine.4

I think you ought to be sworn before the evi-

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dence closes: of this however I leave you and others to judge.5
Very truly Yours,A. Lincoln.

1This letter is attributed to Abraham Lincoln but no manuscript version with his signature has been located.

2Following the recommendation of Elihu B. Washburne, Washington, DC attorney and patent agent Peter H. Watson visited Lincoln in Springfield in June 1855 in regards to the defense of the case of McCormick v. Talcott et al. Cyrus H. McCormick had instituted a suit against the Rockford firm of Manny & Company in the U.S. Circuit Court in November 1854 for patent infringement, claiming that the mechanical reaper of John H. Manny’s design and manufacture copied several elements of McCormick’s own reaper. Manny & Co. was represented in the case by Watson, who had helped John H. Manny obtain his patents, as well as attorneys George Harding and Edwin M. Stanton. Upon meeting with Lincoln, Watson hired him for the defense with a $400 retainer, as none of Manny’s legal representatives lived in Illinois and they apparently deemed it prudent to include an attorney from the state as the trial was to be held in Chicago. The trial was instead moved to Cincinnati, where it commenced on September 20, 1855, and while the other members of the defense team allowed Lincoln to attend, they blocked his participation in the case. McCormick’s attorneys in the case included Isaac N. Arnold and Edward N. Dickerson. The verdict in the case was announced on January 16, 1856 in favor of Manny & Co., after which McCormick appealed the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court, which upheld the lower court’s ruling.
Elihu B. Washburne to Abraham Lincoln; McCormick v. Talcott et al., 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=137741; McCormick v. Talcott et al., 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=137742; Harry E. Pratt, The Personal Finances of Abraham Lincoln (Springfield, IL: Abraham Lincoln Association, 1943), 54-56; William T. Hutchinson, Cyrus Hall McCormick: Seed-Time, 1809-1856 (New York: Century, 1930), 433-49; Charles A. Church, History of Rockford and Winnebago County Illinois (Rockford, IL: W. P. Lamb, 1900), 322; The Lincoln Log: A Daily Chronology of the Life of Abraham Lincoln, 20 September 1855, http://www.thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1855-09-20.

3Lincoln had been in Chicago to attend the session of the U.S. Circuit and District Courts for the newly created Northern District of Illinois, which convened on July 2, 1855. He returned to Springfield by July 18, 1855. His copies of McCormick’s bill of complaint and Manny & Co.’s answer in the case have not been found, but other texts of these documents are extant in the legal records of the case and its appeal.
The Lincoln Log: A Daily Chronology of the Life of Abraham Lincoln, 2 July 1855, http://www.thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1855-07-02; 18 July 1855, http://www.thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1855-07-18; McCormick v. Talcott et al., 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=137741; McCormick v. Talcott et al., 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=137742.

4The exact date of Lincoln’s visit to Rockford during his sojourn in Chicago between July 2 and 18, 1855 is unknown.
The Lincoln Log: A Daily Chronology of the Life of Abraham Lincoln, 7 July 1855, http://www.thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1855-07-07.

5No reply to this letter from Watson has been found and apparently none was written. Lincoln wrote to Manny & Co. on September 1, 1855 that he had yet to receive a response from Watson.