Petition of Orville H. Browning and Others to Zachary Taylor, [7 November 1848 - 5
March 1849]1
(Copy.)
To Genl[General] Zachary Taylor, President Elect of the United States.The undersigned, citizens of the State of Illinois, beg leave to recommend one of their fellow-citizens, Col.[Colonel] N. Green Wilcox, to the favorable consideration of the President and Heads of Departments, should
he make application for office, and receive an appointment, we doubt not that the
duties of any station which he would accept, will be discharged with honesty and fidelity.2
| O. H. Browning, | Ninian W. Edwards |
| R. S. Blackwell | George W. Rives |
| Jas. L. D. Morrison | John H. Sconce |
| R. S. Thomas | A. H. Grass |
| E. Keating | H. Fellows |
| U. F. Linder, | Wm A. Minshall |
| John Denny, | Thomas Munroe |
| John T. Stuart | William H. Ray |
| J. Gillespie | Archibald Williams |
| E. Z. Ryan, | N. Bushnell |
(Over.)
<Page 2>
| M. Hay | Ben. Bond |
| E. N. Powell | J. B. Herrick |
| H. O. Merriman | John W. Henderson |
| W. H. Gear | P. Maxwell |
| R. Yates | Josiah Harrison |
| A. C. Harding | Thos M. Killpatrick |
| Wm Kellogg | M. P. Sweet |
| C. B. Denis | M. Y. Johnson |
| G. Trumbull | G. B. Waller |
| W. H. Crandell | Anson S. Miller |
| Wm Pickering | Curtiss Blakeman |
| J. W. Smith | Jos. Crawford |
| Dauphin Brown | R. B. Ewing. |
[ endorsement
]
Baker, Edward D.Lincoln, Abraham (President)Zachary Taylor
We cheerfully concur with the above gentlemen in their expression in favor of Mr.
Wilcox, and bear willing testimony to his fine capacity and character.
E. D. BakerA. Lincoln.[ endorsement
]
03/05/1861
03/05/1861
I reendorse this paper, so far as it can be done after this lapse of time
March 5./61[1861] E. D. Baker<Page 3>
[ endorsement
]
Stephen A. DouglasTaylor, Zachary (President)
I know, personally, most of the persons, who have signed the foregoing paper, & take
pleasure in saying that their high character entitles their statements to implicit
confidence & great respect. I have also known Col. Wilcox for many years as a gentleman of great prominence in the Whig party of the State, & as their candidate for many high offices, and among them those of Lieut.[Lieutenant] Governor & Congress. He possesses decided talents & qualifications for official business, & sustains
an unblemished character for morality & integrity. Whilst I take pleasure in saying
thus much for Col. Wilcox, I must be distinctly understood as being entirely opposed to the removal
of the persons now in office, whom I believe to be honest & well qualified.S. A. Douglas.
[ certification
]
02/23/1861Department of the Interior,
February 23d 1861.
Actg Chf. Clk.[Acting Chief Clerk]
02/23/1861Department of the Interior,
February 23d 1861.
I certify the foregoing to be truly copied from the original on file in this Office.
W. W. LesterActg Chf. Clk.[Acting Chief Clerk]
<Page 4>
[ docketing
]
No 12.
Nathaniel G. Wilcox, of Illinois.
Copy of recommendation of O. H. Browning
J. Gillespie
Archibald Williams
N. Bushnell
Wm H. Ray
R. Yates
Wm Kellogg
M. P. Sweet
And 38 others.
Concurred in by
Hon. E. D. Baker
"A. Lincoln
"S. A. Douglas.
Re-indorsed by Col. E. D. Baker, Mar[March] 5/61
Nathaniel G. Wilcox, of Illinois.
Copy of recommendation of O. H. Browning
J. Gillespie
Archibald Williams
N. Bushnell
Wm H. Ray
R. Yates
Wm Kellogg
M. P. Sweet
And 38 others.
Concurred in by
Hon. E. D. Baker
"A. Lincoln
"S. A. Douglas.
Re-indorsed by Col. E. D. Baker, Mar[March] 5/61
1Abraham Lincoln endorsed the original version of this letter of recommendation sometime between Zachary Taylor’s election
on November 7, 1848, and his inauguration on March 5, 1849.
Michael F. Holt, The Rise and Fall of the American Whig Party: Jacksonian Politics and the Onset of
the Civil War (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 368, 415.
2In June 1849, Lincoln repeated his recommendation of Nathaniel G. Wilcox for the General
Land Office in a letter to the Secretary of the Interior Thomas Ewing. Wilcox received the appointment of receiver at Stillwater, Minnesota, and he served until 1852. This copy of the original was made on February 23, 1861,
likely to be used as part of Wilcox’s applications to the Lincoln administration for
an appointment in the West.
Augustus B. Easton, History of the Saint Croix Valley (Chicago: H. C. Cooper, Jr., 1909), 1:356; Register of all Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of
the United States, on the Thirtieth September, 1849 (Washington, DC: Gideon, 1849), 138; Register of all Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of
the United States, on the Thirtieth September, 1851 (Washington, DC: Gideon, 1851), 142; Nathaniel Wilcox to Abraham Lincoln; Richard Yates to Abraham Lincoln.