William Walker to Abraham Lincoln, 2 August 18581
Havana Aug 2d 1858Hon A LincolnDr[Dear] SirI received yours of the 30th of July, & was pleased to learn that you would be here on the 14th of this month2 We can & will obtain for you a large crowd. We were advised through the press that
Douglass refused to meet you3
We will of course make our arrangements to see you at the time above mentioned4
Yours Wm Walker<Page 2>
[Envelope]
Hon A. LincolnSpringfieldIlls
1William Walker wrote and signed this letter. He also wrote Abraham Lincoln’s name
and address on the envelope shown in the second image.
2Lincoln’s July 30 letter to Walker has not been located. Walker wrote Lincoln on July 23, asking him to come speak in Havana, Illinois, in mid-August.
Lincoln was running as the Illinois Republican Party’s candidate to replace Democratic incumbent Stephen A. Douglas in the U.S. Senate. See 1858 Illinois Republican Convention; 1858 Federal Election.
Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), 1:458.
3On July 24, Lincoln had challenged Douglas to a series of formal debates. The Illinois
press published much of the correspondence between Douglas and Lincoln on the subject.
The letter Walker references is most likely Douglas’ first reply to Lincoln, in which
Douglas stated that he and the Democratic State Committee had already made speaking
arrangements for him through late-October and that the arrangements scheduled “will
occupy the whole time of the day and evening and leave no opportunity for other speeches.”
Douglas nevertheless eventually agreed to debate Lincoln, resulting in the famous
Lincoln-Douglas Debates.
Abraham Lincoln to Stephen A. Douglas; Abraham Lincoln to Stephen A. Douglas; Stephen A. Douglas to Abraham Lincoln; Stephen A. Douglas to Abraham Lincoln; Daily Illinois State Journal (Springfield), 29 July 1858, 2:2; 31 July 1858, 2:1; 2 August 1858, 2:2; 6 August
1858, 2:2; Chicago Daily Press and Tribune (IL), 28 July 1858, 1:2; Daily Illinois State Register (Springfield), 2 August 1858, 2:1.
4Although Lincoln declined to speak in Havana the same day as Douglas (August 13),
he delivered a campaign address in Havana on August 14. For the first part of the
election 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. In an August 2 letter to Joseph Eccles, however, Lincoln noted that in correspondence Douglas had indicated
that “my presence, on the days or evenings of his meetings would be considered an
intrusion.” Douglas’ intimation was most likely why Lincoln addressed Havana the day
after Douglas rather than on the same day, as Walker had originally suggested.
Ultimately, in the local elections of 1858, Republicans won a majority of all votes
cast in Illinois, yet 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. Lincoln received forty-six votes in the General Assembly, but
Douglas received fifty-one votes and retained the senate seat. 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.
Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life, 1:483-85, 556-57; The Lincoln Log: A Daily Chronology of the Life of Abraham Lincoln, 13 August 1858, https://thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1858-08-13; 14 August 1858, https://thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1858-08-14; Allen C. Guelzo, “Houses Divided: Lincoln, Douglas, and the Political Landscape
of 1858,” The Journal of American History 94 (September 2007), 394; Illinois House Journal. 1859. 21st G. A., 32; Illinois Senate Journal. 1859. 21st G. A., 30.
Autograph Letter Signed, 2 page(s), Abraham Lincoln Papers, Library of Congress (Washington, DC).