Richard Lloyd to Abraham Lincoln, 3 August 18581
Henry Illinois August 3/58Abm Lincoln Esq[Esquire]Springfield IllinoisD[Dear] Sir,
Please say what has been done with the case of Powell vs. Ament & others ejectment in Adams Co, should it by any possibility the court should decide against Powell please take the necessary steps to take the case up,
and write me at once so that I may be on the spot if necessary, or if necessary telegraph
me, as I desire to take the case to the higher courts if it goes against Powell there.2 I have a very efficient friend in Mr Reverdy Johnson of Baltimore.3 I hope to hear from you on rcpt[receipt] of this favorably.4
Yr obt sevt[Your obedient servant]R. Lloyd.<Page 2>
[Envelope]
HENRY Ill.[Illinois]
AUG[AUGUST] 4 1858A. Lincoln EsqAttorney at LawSpringfieldSangamon CountyIllinois
AUG[AUGUST] 4 1858A. Lincoln EsqAttorney at LawSpringfieldSangamon CountyIllinois
2The case of Powell v. Ament & Beer involved a dispute over the ownership of land in Adams County, Illinois. The case
had commenced in the U.S. Circuit Court for the Southern District of Illinois in January 1858, with Abraham Lincoln as an attorney for the plaintiff. At issue
in the case was title to property which had originally been military bounty land patented
by Jabez Morse and which Jeremiah Evarts claimed to have purchased from Morse, apparently through land agents Moore, Morton & Company. Although Lloyd’s nephew, Lloyd Powell, was the plaintiff of record on the case, Lloyd seems to have owned the land in question
at one time. No correspondence between Lincoln and Powell has been located, but Lloyd
wrote Lincoln several letters regarding the case and assisted in gathering documentation
for Powell’s claim.
On June 24, 1858, the case had been submitted for trial by judge, with Norman H. Purple appearing for the plaintiff. After hearing the evidence, Judge Samuel H. Treat declined to rule immediately and instead decided to take time to consider the matter.
Judgment was not issued until January 12, 1859, when the court ruled for the defendants.
The case went through two more trials and was ultimately decided in favor of Powell
in 1863. Lincoln’s involvement in the case ended about 1860.
Judge’s Docket, Document ID: 64426; Order, Document ID: 64425; Judgment Docket, Document
ID: 64429, Powell v. Ament & Beer, Martha L. Benner and Cullom Davis et al., eds., The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln: Complete Documentary Edition, 2d edition (Springfield: Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, 2009), https://lawpracticeofabrahamlincoln.org/Details.aspx?case=137595; Inventory, Powell Family Papers, Special Collections Research Center, Swem Library,
The College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA, http://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaead/published/wm/viw00085.frame; Lorraine Janney Kintz, Israel & Elizabeth Janney: Their Ancestors and Descendants
([Richland Center, WI]: [L.J. Kintz], [1985]), 147-48; The Quincy Herald-Whig (IL), 7 January 1940, 14:8; Richard Lloyd to Abraham Lincoln; Richard Lloyd to Abraham Lincoln; Richard Lloyd to Abraham Lincoln; Richard Lloyd to Abraham Lincoln; Richard Lloyd to Abraham Lincoln.
3Lloyd apparently intended to retain attorney Reverdy Johnson in the event that Powell v. Ament & Beer was decided against the plaintiff and he chose to appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. Johnson had been victorious in such high profile U.S. Supreme Court cases as an
1854 defense of Cyrus H. McCormick’s reaper patent and in 1857 as a defense attorney in Scott v. Sandford. Powell v. Ament & Beer was ultimately decided in the U.S. Circuit Court for the Southern District of Illinois
and no evidence has been found that Johnson was involved in the case.
William L. Barney, “Johnson, Reverdy,” American National Biography, ed. by John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999),
12:117; Powell v. Ament & Beer, Martha L. Benner and Cullom Davis et al., eds., The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln: Complete Documentary Edition, https://lawpracticeofabrahamlincoln.org/Details.aspx?case=137595.
Autograph Letter Signed, 2 page(s), Abraham Lincoln Papers, Library of Congress (Washington, DC).