Compton was not the only person to report that Douglas requested the assistance of Usher F. Linder on the campaign trail. On the same day that Compton wrote this letter to Lincoln, the Chicago Daily Press and Tribune printed the following excerpt from what it claimed was a letter Douglas sent to Linder: “For God’s sake, Linder, come up into the Northern part of the State and help me. Every dog [sic] in the State is let loose after me--from the bull-dog Trumbull to the smallest canine quadruped that has a kennel in Illinois.” Although the original letter from Douglas to Linder has not been located, numerous accounts claim that Douglas originally telegraphed Linder for aid in August 1858, then, on August 22, the day after the first Lincoln-Douglas Debate, Douglas wrote Linder a letter containing the above quotation. One confirmed letter, from Douglas to Jacob I. Brown, dated August 29, 1858, shows Douglas wrote: “It is important that Gen. Linder should take the stump immediately . . . our friends should not be idle but should put forth efforts that will overcome those that are made against us.”

Linder, who was a candidate for election to the Illinois Senate at the time, joined Douglas on the campaign trail at least as early as Friday, September 10, when he gave an address in Saint Louis, Missouri, immediately after Douglas.

In Illinois’s local elections of 1858, Linder lost to Republican Thomas A. Marshall. In the local elections as a whole, Republicans won a majority of all votes cast in the state, but pro-Douglas Democrats retained control of the Illinois General Assembly and Douglas ultimately won reelection to the U.S. Senate. Through the campaign, however, and in particular through his participation in the Lincoln-Douglas Debates, Lincoln gained recognition and respect within the national Republican Party.