William H. L. Wallace to Abraham Lincoln, 18 August 18581
Ottawa Aug 18/58
| Hon A. Lincoln | } |
| Peoria |
I wrote you on behalf of the Republican committee some ten days ago to know how & when you would arrive here for the meeet^ti^ng on the 21st & whether you would arrive in company with Mr. Douglas–2 I directed the letter to Springfield & have as yet received no reply– As the time is short I now address you at Peoria
as I see you have an
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appointment to speak there tomorrow–3 Please advise me by telegraph from Peoria, how & when you will reach Ottawa & whether
or not you will arrive on the same train with Mr. Douglas–4We are expecting a large gathering here on the 21st–5 Your friends are enthusiastic & hopeful– You have doubtless seen that Dickey is going for Douglas–6 I regret this, as much as you can, and perhaps it is proper, considering the relations
between Dickey
Yours RespectfullyW H L Wallace<Page 3>
& myself, that I should assure you that his course will have no influence with me–7 I can not support Douglas & shall do all I honorably can to secure your election
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[Envelope]
OTTAWA Ill.[Illinois]
AUG[AUGUST] 18Hon A. LincolnPeoria Illinois
AUG[AUGUST] 18Hon A. LincolnPeoria Illinois
To the P. M[Postmaster]. In case Mr. L. does not call for this during his visit to Peoria, please return this to Ottawa–
1William H. L. Wallace wrote and signed this letter, including the address and note
to postmaster on the envelope.
2At this time Abraham Lincoln was running against incumbent senator Stephen A. Douglas
to represent Illinois in the U.S. Senate. The two candidates were scheduled to meet in the first Lincoln-Douglas Debate in Ottawa on August 21, 1858. See 1858 Illinois Republican Convention; 1858 Federal Election.
Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), 1:457-58; The Lincoln Log: A Daily Chronology of the Life of Abraham Lincoln, 21 August 1858, https://www.thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1858-08-21; First Debate with Stephen A. Douglas at Ottawa, Illinois; First Debate with Stephen A. Douglas at Ottawa, Illinois; First Debate with Stephen A. Douglas at Ottawa, Illinois.
3Wallace had written his letter addressed to Lincoln at Springfield on August 9, 1858. No response by Lincoln to
that letter has been located, and he may not have received it prior to leaving Springfield
on August 11. Lincoln had not returned to Springfield by the date of this letter,
having given campaign speeches in Beardstown, Havana, Bath, and Lewistown in the interim. Lincoln spoke in Peoria following the Republican Congressional Convention
of the Fourth Congressional District of Illinois on August 19, 1858.
The Lincoln Log: A Daily Chronology of the Life of Abraham Lincoln, 11 August 1858, https://www.thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1858-08-11; 12 August 1858, https://www.thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1858-08-12; 14 August 1858, https://www.thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1858-08-14; 16 August 1858, https://www.thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1858-08-16; 17 August 1858, https://www.thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1858-08-17; 19 August 1858, https://www.thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1858-08-19; Report of Speech at Beardstown, Illinois; Summary of Speech at Beardstown, Illinois; Report of Speech at Havana, Illinois; Summary of Speech at Bath, Illinois; Report of Speech at Lewistown, Illinois; Summary of Speech at the Congressional Convention of the Fourth District, Peoria,
Illinois; Summary of Speech at Peoria, Illinois.
4No response to this letter by Lincoln has been located. A newspaper article published
shortly before the date of this letter outlining plans for Douglas’ reception in Ottawa
stated that Douglas would arrive by train. Wallace wrote again the day after this letter to inform Lincoln that Douglas’ supporters were opposed
to a joint reception for the two men in Ottawa prior to the debate, and that instead
of arriving by train at the station in Ottawa, Douglas would travel to Buffalo Rock and would be escorted by carriage from there to Ottawa.
The Ottawa Free Trader (IL), 14 August 1858, 2:1.
5Newspaper reports of the Lincoln-Douglas Debate in Ottawa gave estimates of attendance
in the range of ten to twelve thousand spectators.
Chicago Daily Press and Tribune (IL), 23 August 1858, 1:2; Daily Illinois State Register (Springfield), 24 August 1858, 2:2.
6T. Lyle Dickey, a former Henry Clay Whig who opposed abolition, broke with the Republican Party in August of 1858 and announced that he was joining the Democratic Party. Dickey was spurred in part by Owen Lovejoy’s 1858 nomination to run for reelection as the Republican candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in the Third Congressional District of Illinois. During the election of 1858 Dickey denounced Lincoln for his abandonment of the Whig principles of Clay and campaigned
on behalf of Douglas.
Leonard Swett, Remembrances of T. Lyle Dickey ([Chicago]: Barnard & Gunthorp, [1885?]), 19-20; Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life, 1:424, 454, 456-57, 542-44, 548.
Autograph Letter Signed, 4 page(s), Abraham Lincoln Papers, Library of Congress (Washington, DC).