Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

Edward D. Baker to Abraham Lincoln, 27 April 18491
Galena Ap^l 27^th 49.Dear Lincoln,
I enclose my name write over it for Wallace– what you like he is a good friend & a good whig, read this to him and say I can not go against him if he sets his heart on it. but I think nay I know it is wrong– for you to do it, If you do not recommend him I wish Charles Matheny to have it and I judge that best for every body– still I know you are pained, and I relieve you as far as I can2

Have you written to M^r Edwards– Morrison still wants it, he thinks you do, I tell him differently will you undeceive him.3 I am annoyed to death, about officesWashburn is moving heaven and earth in the way of petty annoyance,4 Wilson is PM[Postmaster] at Chicago, beautiful,5 Write me a letter saying what you know about Clayton being prevented from appointing Sweet,6
very Truly YoursE D Baker

1Edward D. Baker wrote and signed this letter.

2William S. Wallace, Charles W. Matheny, William Butler, and Orville Paddock were vying to replace Charles R. Hurst as agent for the U.S. Bureau of Pensions in Springfield, Illinois. Abraham Lincoln recommended Butler for the position in a letter to Secretary of the Interior Thomas Ewing on April 7. He would also support Wallace and Paddock in a memorandum in May. Hurst resigned as agent in June 1849, and Wallace replaced him on June 30. Wallace would hold the position until 1853.
Register of all Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, on the Thirtieth September, 1847 (Washington, DC: J. & G. S. Gideon, 1847), 139; Illinois Journal (Springfield), 13 June 1849, 3:1; 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), 140; 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), 151; Register of Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, on the Thirtieth September, 1853 (Washington, DC: Robert Armstrong, 1853), 152.

3Cyrus Edwards and James L. D. Morrison were both hoping to become commissioner of the U.S. General Land Office. Lincoln would also eventually become a contender for the appointment. See the General Land Office Affair.

4Baker supported Morrison for the office of commissioner, but Elihu B. Washburne became the leader of a group of Whigs that supported Martin P. Sweet.
Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), 1:296.

5President Zachary Taylor appointed Richard L. Wilson postmaster on April 23. Wilson would hold the post until September 1850, when George W. Dole replaced him. Dole held the job until March 1853.
Register of all Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, on the Thirtieth September, 1849, 470*; Register of all Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, on the Thirtieth September, 1851, *527; Register of Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, on the Thirtieth September, 1853, *499; Record of Appointment of Postmasters, 1832-1971, NARA Microfilm Publication, M841, 145 rolls, Records of the Post Office Department, RG 28, 1845-1855, 18:34, National Archives Building, Washington, DC.

6Lincoln’s response, if he penned one, has not been located.