Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln to John M. McCalla, 7 December 18481
H. of R.
Dec. 7. 1848.Sir:
Your early attention is respectfully solicited to the enclosed papers, as I am desirous of advising my constituents of the settlement of the claims at an early day.2
Yours Respectfully,A. LincolnHon. Jno. M. McCalla

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[ docketing ]
12/11/1848
James Milton dc'd[deceased]
Thomas Seekly3
Co.[Company] F 2^d Ills vol^s[volunteers]
Hon. A. Lincoln
Rec'd[Received] Dec.[December] 11/48[1848].

[ docketing ]
To W^m Milton
father
Care of Hempstead & Washburn
Galena
Ills––

[ docketing ]
10/09/1849
Wrote to A. G.4 for date of oath 5^th Oct[October] 49[1849]–

[ docketing ]
It appears by the rolls that he was Last paid by P. M.[Paymaster] Ringgold– probably in the Hospital–

1The writer of the body of this letter is unknown. Abraham Lincoln only signed his name.

2The enclosed papers Lincoln references were not with this letter, and they have not been found. The docketing on the back of the letter suggests that the papers concerned James Milton, deceased, and Thomas Leakley, Company F, 2nd Illinois Volunteers, whose back pay from their service in the Mexican War was being sought by William Milton, James Milton’s father, through Lincoln and the firm of Hempstead & Washburne. In a letter dated March 22, 1849, Elihu B. Washburne suggested that Lincoln might have received a land warrant for William Milton due for his son’s service. Public land sales records show that Milton received 240 acres by warrant in February and April 1848 in Apple River Township in northern Jo Daviess County.
Roy P. Basler, ed., The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln (Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1974), 10:12; Illinois Public Domain Land Tract Sales, Jo Daviess County, 711:83, 85, 86, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL.

3“Seekly” or “Seekley” is most likely an incorrect spelling for Thomas Leakley (Leekley).

4The abbrevation “A. G.” could stand for “Attorney General” or “Adjutant General.”