Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

John S. Winter to Abraham Lincoln, 9 September 18581
Knoxville Sept 9th 1858Hon Ab^m LincolnDear Sir
The Democratic County Convention met at our place on Saturday last for the purpose of selecting delegates to the congressional convention, which has just resulted in the nomination of James W Davidson as an opponent of our mutual friend Hon W^m Kellogg;2 at that convention One and a half hours was consumed in making arrangements for the reception of Douglas at Galesburg. He is to be there on the evening previous to the discussion and as the Democrats are calculating largely on the effect of their reception, we are desirous of eclipsing them, and I am requested to invite you and Mr Kellogg, to make your arrangements to come to Knoxville on the 6th of October either by the noon train or in the evening, and let us know at what time you will arrive. Our people are wide awake, and the reception there shall be worthy of the occasion, and on the day of discussion in addition to the crowd the cars will take to Galesburg, we think we can safely say that a cavalcade of at least from 12 to 1500 persons will go from here to Galesburg, and with the aid of our Galesburg friends we will turn out 10 republicans to one democrat, making the Effect they depend upon result to our benefit.3 I have written to Mr Trumbull, as he is advertised for Peoria

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on the same day, requesting a postponement of his address one day, and guaranteing that he shall be in Canton in time to meet his next appointment. This arrangement would enable citizens of Peoria and Eastern Counties of the district to be at the discussion and also be at Peoria to hear Mr Trumbull4

Let us hear from you as early as possible, for we are making arrangements hoping they will be satisfactory.5

I write to Mr Kellogg, to the same effect this morning
Yours TrulyJohn S Winter

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[Envelope]

KNOXVILLE Ill[Illinois]
SEP[SEPTEMBER] 19Hon Abraham LincolnJonesboroUnion CoIll6

[ docketing ]
Lincoln, Abraham (President)

J. S. Winter7

1John S. Winter wrote and signed this letter, including the address on the envelope.

2Knoxville was county seat of Knox County, which was in Illinois’ Fourth Congressional District, where Republican William Kellogg was the incumbent member of the U.S. House of Representatives, having previously defeated Democrat James W. Davidson in the election of 1856. Davidson was nominated by the Douglas Democrats of the Fourth Congressional District at a convention in Peoria on September 8, 1858 to challenge Kellogg again in the 1858 election. Kellogg ultimately garnered 52.8 percent of the vote and defeated Davidson, who received 45.7 percent.
Chas. C. Chapman, History of Knox County, Illinois, (Chicago: Blakely, Brown & Marsh, 1878), 137; Daily Illinois State Register (Springfield), 11 September 1858, 2:1-2; Howard W. Allen and Vincent A. Lacey, eds., Illinois Elections, 1818-1990 (Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press, 1992), 10, 11, 139-40, 142.

3Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas were competing for a seat in the U.S. Senate.
Winter is discussing preparations for the fifth Lincoln-Douglas Debate, to be held in Galesburg on October 7, 1858. Despite Winter’s statement here that Douglas was expected in Galesburg on the evening before the debate, Douglas reportedly arrived by train in Galesburg at 10:00 am on October 7 and was greeted by his supporters and local military organizations. The ceremony welcoming Douglas to Galesburg included speeches and the presentation of banners. Lincoln reportedly left Peoria by train on the evening of October 6 and seems to have disembarked in Knoxville as Winter proposed. On the morning of October 7 a procession of citizens of Galesburg, including one hundred men and women on horseback, traveled out of Galesburg on the Knoxville road in order to meet Lincoln and escort him into the city. Lincoln arrived in Galesburg in a procession that was allegedly “long enough, taken all together, to reach around the town and tie in a bow-knot.” The procession marched around town with banners, concluding with a ceremony at the home of Lincoln’s host, Henry R. Sanderson, during which Lincoln was also presented with banners.

According to the Republican Chicago Tribune, among the processions arriving in Galesburg on the morning of October 7, a “decided preponderance” carried banners supporting Lincoln and Kellogg. The Chicago Times, a Democratic organ, claimed in contrast that Lincoln’s procession into Galesburg was a third the size of Douglas’, and further stated that Democrats outnumbered Republicans nearly two to one at the Lincoln-Douglas Debate there. The Chicago Times stated that the Republican committee of arrangements for the Lincoln-Douglas Debate in Galesburg had been writing letters to Republican leaders in the surrounding area as early as September 13, 1858 in an attempt to encourage a strong Republican showing.
Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), 1:457-58, 466; The Metamora Herald (IL), 21 August 1931, 9:2; The Lincoln Log: A Daily Chronology of the Life of Abraham Lincoln, 7 October 1858, https://www.thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1858-10-07; The Daily Chicago Times (IL), 9 October 1858, 1:3-4; Chicago Daily Press and Tribune (IL), 9 October 1858, 2:2; The Chicago Daily Tribune (IL), 5 October 1899, 2:2; Franklin William Scott, Newspapers and Periodicals of Illinois, 1814-1879, vol. 6 of Collections of the Illinois State Historical Library (Springfield: Illinois State Historical Library, 1910), 59-60, 65.

4During the election campaign of 1858, Lyman Trumbull campaigned throughout Illinois in support of Lincoln and the Republican Party. Several days after the date of this letter, it was announced that rather than postponing his speech scheduled in Peoria for October 7, 1858, Trumbull would switch the date of that appearance with a speech he was scheduled to give in Lacon on October 5, so that the residents of Peoria could attend the Lincoln-Douglas Debate in Galesburg on October 7. It was reported that a special train from Peoria consisting of twenty-two cars carried over two thousand people from Peoria to Galesburg for the debate. Following his speeches in Peoria and Lacon, Trumbull was scheduled to speak in Canton on October 9.
Ralph J. Roske, His Own Counsel: The Life and Times of Lyman Trumbull (Reno, NV: University of Nevada Press, 1979), 47-51; Daily Illinois State Journal (Springfield), 11 September 1858, 2:1; 17 September 1858, 2:1, 3:1; Chicago Daily Press and Tribune (IL), 8 October 1858, 1:2; 9 October 1858, 2:2.

5No response to this letter has been located, nor further correspondence between Lincoln and Winter on the subject.

6Winter directed this letter to Lincoln at Jonesboro in anticipation of the latter’s arrival there for the third Lincoln-Douglas Debate on September 15, 1858. Lincoln reached Jonesboro on the evening of September 14, and following the debate he arrived in Centralia at noon on September 16. The postmark on this envelope of September 19 is apparently a mistake, with either September 9 or 10 presumably intended.
The Lincoln Log: A Daily Chronology of the Life of Abraham Lincoln, 14 September 1858, https://www.thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1858-09-14; 15 September 1858, https://www.thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1858-09-15; 16 September 1858, https://www.thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1858-09-16.

7Lincoln wrote this docketing.