In their July 29 letter to Lincoln, Charles W. Michael and William Proctor requested that he deliver a campaign address in Lewistown, Illinois, near August 16—the day Douglas was scheduled to speak in the town. Judge William Kellogg had also written Lincoln, on July 26, requesting that he speak in Lewistown. Lincoln’s reply to Kellogg’s letter has not been located. Amos C. Babcock and William P. Kellogg wrote Lincoln on August 4 on behalf of Judge Kellogg, assuring Lincoln that they would assemble a good crowd in Lewistown by advertising well. Proctor wrote Lincoln a similar letter on August 6, confident that the crowd would be large.

During the first part of the campaign of 1858, Lincoln had often followed Douglas on the trail, delivering speeches either later in the evening after Douglas finished, or the next day. However, as Lincoln notes above, Douglas was unhappy with this approach. Douglas and Lincoln eventually appeared together during the Lincoln-Douglas Debates, after Lincoln challenged Douglas to a series of debates in late-July.

Douglas delivered his campaign speech in Lewistown on August 16, and Lincoln delivered an address in Lewistown the next day. Douglas’ audience on August 16 was estimated at 3,000; Lincoln’s was estimated at 2,000.

In the end, in the local elections of 1858, Republicans won a majority of all votes cast in Illinois, but pro-Douglas Democrats retained control of the Illinois General Assembly. At the time, members of the General Assembly voted for and elected the state’s representatives in the U.S. Senate, and Douglas ultimately won reelection. Through the campaign, however, and in particular through his participation in the Lincoln-Douglas Debates, Lincoln gained recognition as well as standing within the national Republican Party.