Gustave P. Koerner to Abraham Lincoln, 13 September 18581
Belleville. Sept. 13. /58Copy of letter directed to you to Springfield.
Dear Sir.The Douglas meeting here I am told by every body and impartial men was a terrible fizzle. If he had not brought along bands of music
& 400 border ruffians2 from St. Louis the failure would have been tremenduous outside of the Missourians there were not 500 persons including women & children
& a couple of hundreds of Republicans.3 I was not here, but the woeful countenances of his friends tell4 the tale.
our friends in Randolph are sanguine. If you could be at their fair 5 & 6 octob[october] it would be a great thing.5 I was there last week now we here in Belleville want you here Saturday 16 octob. You speak at Alton 15. We have a Sunday train, which on the 17th will take you to St. Louis. The ^Sunday^ evening train takes you to Springfield.6 Perhaps the day in Brown Cy might be changed to 19th7 We are all anxious for you to be here. We want to crush the thing out. Now write
me immediately so that we can give notice8
Hon A. Lincoln.YoursG Koerner<Page 2>
[Envelope]
BELLEVILLE Ill[Illinois].
SEP[SEPTEMBER] 13Hon. A. LincolnCharlestonColes CyIll.
SEP[SEPTEMBER] 13Hon. A. LincolnCharlestonColes CyIll.
1Gustave P. Koerner wrote and signed this copy, including the address on the envelope. The original letter, in Koerner’s handwriting, is also extant. Except for minor changes in style and
punctuation, this transcription reflects the original version. Principal variations
in wording which appear in this version are noted in footnotes.
3Stephen A. Douglas spoke in Belleville on Friday, September 10, 1858. His visit attracted no more than
twelve hundred attendees, approximately four hundred of whom were proslavery Missourians.
One newspaper reported that his topic only repeated recently published speeches and
his oratorical effort, though an able one, was inferior to his abilities.
Lincoln was the Republican candidate from Illinois for the U.S. Senate. In the summer and fall of 1858, he crisscrossed Illinois delivering speeches and
campaigning on behalf of Republican candidates for the Illinois General Assembly. At this time the Illinois General Assembly elected the state’s representatives in
the U.S. Senate, thus the outcome of races for the Illinois House of Representatives and Illinois Senate were of importance to Lincoln’s campaign. He ran against, and lost to, Democrat Stephen A. Douglas, the incumbent. See 1858 Illinois Republican Convention; 1858 Federal Election.
Voters in St. Clair County, home to Belleville which constituted Illinois House of Representatives District
Twelve, reelected Republican Vital Jarrot in 1858, and elected Republican John Scheel, who replaced outgoing Democrat William W. Roman. In the election of 1858, William H. Underwood held over as the member of the Illinois Senate representing St. Clair and Monroe counties. Although Underwood joined ranks with the Republican Party later in life,
at the time he was elected to this Illinois Senate seat in 1856, he was a Democrat.
The Ottawa Free Trader (IL), 4 September 1858, 2:1; Chicago Daily Press and Tribune (IL), 14 September 1858, 2:4; 5 November 1858, 1:3; Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), 1:457-85, 557; Allen C. Guelzo,
“Houses Divided: Lincoln, Douglas, and the Political Landscape of 1858,” The Journal of American History 94 (September 2007), 392-99, 400-401; History of St. Clair County, Illinois
(Philadelphia: Brink, McDonough, 1881), 183; John Clayton, comp., The Illinois Fact Book and Historical Almanac 1673-1968 (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1970), 219, 221, 222; The Weekly Chicago Times (IL), 27 November 1856, 4:2; Illinois Weekly State Journal (Springfield), 29 September 1875, 2:1.
5Lincoln did not attend the Randolph County fair, instead speaking in Peoria and Pekin on October 5. On October 6, Lincoln traveled to Galesburg for the fifth Lincoln-Douglas Debate.
The voters of Randolph County did not return any Republicans to the Illinois General
Assembly in the election of 1858. Randolph County, along with Clinton, Jackson, Perry, and Washington counties, comprised Illinois Senate District Twenty-Four, where Democrat Elzey C.
Coffey held over in 1858. In District Six of the Illinois House of Representatives,
which consisted solely of Randolph County, Democrat John E. Detrich received 1,063 votes, defeating Republican candidate Gabriel Jones, who garnered 958. Both Coffey and Detrich voted for Stephen A. Douglas for U.S.
Senate in the election of 1858.
The Lincoln Log: A Daily Chronology of the Life of Abraham Lincoln, 5 October 1858, https://thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1858-10-05; 6 October 1858, https://thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1858-10-06; Summary of Speech at Pekin, Illinois; Summary of Speech at Pekin, Illinois; John Clayton, comp., The Illinois Fact Book and Historical Almanac 1673-1968, 219, 221, 222; The Belvidere Standard (IL), 18 November 1856, 2:5; Chicago Daily Press and Tribune (IL), 1 November 1858, 2:4; 5 November 1858, 1:3; The Weekly Pantagraph (Bloomington, IL), 17 November 1858, 1:4; Illinois House Journal. 1859. 21st G. A., 32.
6This sentence does not appear in the original version. Instead, the phrase, “& you must make ship to be on the 18th in Brown Cy[County]” follows “St. Louis.”
7The original version uses “Perhaps the 18th might be changed to 19th.”
Lincoln did not visit Belleville in October. After participating in the seventh Lincoln-Douglas
Debate at Alton on October 15, he traveled on Saturday, October 16, to Lincoln, Illinois, where he delivered a two-hour speech. Lincoln’s schedule had him speaking at Mount Sterling and Rushville, Illinois, on October 18 and 20, respectively; he ended up speaking at Naples and Meredosia, Illinois, on October 18, Mount Sterling on October 19, and Rushville on October 20.
The Lincoln Log: A Daily Chronology of the Life of Abraham Lincoln, October 1858, https://thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarMonth&year=1858&month=10; 15 October 1858, https://www.thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1858-10-15; 16 October 1858, https://thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1858-10-16; 18 October 1858, https://www.thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1858-10-18; 19 October 1858, https://www.thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1858-10-19; 20 October 1858, https://www.thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1858-10-20; Chicago Daily Press and Tribune (IL), 13 September 1858, 2:1; Summary of Speech at Meredosia, Illinois; Report of Speech at Rushville, Illinois; Summary of Remarks to Salutation at Rushville, Illinois.
Autograph Letter Signed, 2 page(s), Abraham Lincoln Papers, Library of Congress (Washington, DC).