Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln to Horace Greeley, 8 November 18581
Springfield, Ills, Nov^r 8. 1858Hon. H. GreelyDear Sir
This will introduce our mutual friend John G. Nicolay, who resides here–2 He wishes an arrangement to correspond for your paper– He is entirely trust-worthy; and, so far as I am capable of judging, altogether competent for such a situation– I hope you will conceive it your interest to engage him–3
Yours trulyA. Lincoln.

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Letter of introduction from Hon. A. Lincoln to Hon Horace Greeley, Nov.[November] 8, 1858.4

1Abraham Lincoln wrote and signed this letter.

2John G. Nicolay played a valuable support role in Illinois Republican politics during the 1850s. As editor of the anti-slavery Pike County Free Press, Nicolay publicly supported efforts to coalesce and build the fledgling party. He first met Lincoln during the 1856 presidential campaign in Pittsfield, Illinois, where Lincoln delivered a speech at a political event that Nicolay helped organize. In 1857, after selling the Free Press, Nicolay accepted an appointment as principal clerk in the office of Illinois Secretary of State Ozias M. Hatch in Springfield, Illinois. He remained in this role for three years while also working as a correspondent for papers such as the Missouri Democrat and Chicago Tribune.
Nicolay’s clerkship brought him into further contact with Lincoln. Hatch’s office adjoined the Illinois State Library, where Illinois Republican political leaders often gathered during conventions, legislative sessions, and campaigns. In 1858, Lincoln launched his campaign as the Republican candidate from Illinois for U.S. Senate. (See 1858 Federal Election). In the summer and fall of that year, Lincoln and his Democratic opponent, the incumbent Stephen A. Douglas, held a series of seven political debates throughout the state. It is in this context that Nicolay’s role became personally valuable to Lincoln. The latter frequently called on Nicolay to help him find election returns and other records kept in Hatch’s office.
History of Pike County, Illinois (Chicago: Chas. C. Chapman, 1880), 890; Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), 1:412, 432, 457-85; Helen Nicolay, Lincoln’s Secretary: A Biography of John G. Nicolay (New York: Longmans, Green, 1949), 25-28; David Herbert Donald, “We Are Lincoln Men”: Abraham Lincoln and His Friends (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2003), 178.

3The editors have not located any further correspondence between Lincoln and Horace Greeley, or Lincoln and Nicolay, on this matter. They also have not found any evidence that Greeley employed Nicolay as a correspondent.

4An unidentified person wrote this docketing.