Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

William Wilson to Abraham Lincoln, 22 August 18491
Carmi Aug 22^d 1849Dr[Dear] Sir
If I have heretofore made no draw upon your patronage, it has not been from unwillingness to lay myself under an obligation to you, for onerous as that debt is, I assure you that there is no one to whome I would more willingly incur it than yourself. I did not join the pack of office seekers, either as huntsman or whipperin, because I knew how much you must be annoyed by them, and did not wish to increase it, and I must pray you to pardon me for doing so now, The only excuse I can offer is that, I believe the man I commend to your favour, is deserving, that in his profession he will be able to “do the state some service,”2 and will certainly do his patron no discredit in any way. The man I refer to is Doct. Brown of Carmi, he wishes the appointment of Surgeon in the army. He is the same, in whos favour Webb & Davidson wrote you,3 and as they have doubtless been sufficiently explisit, with regard to the character of the man and

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the office he seeks, it is unnecessary for me to say more than that, he is a graduate of the N.[New] Yorke medical college,4 that he is a gentleman in minde & manners, & from his standing with the facuitly, (which I take to be the best test of professional qualification) as well as the community at large, I have no doubt but his appointment would be a good one, & I am equally sure that it would be gratifying to many of your friends here, and particularly
Your Friend and Obed. Servt[Obedient Servant]W^m WilsonN. B.5 While I am asking your interest for our friend, allow me to beg & pray that you will extend it to another a friend, not so called by courtisy, but so proved by worde & deed, long years ago when I was almost a stranger in this land, but no length of years can ease it from my minde, and if I could in any degree, be the means of aiding him now, it would be one of the most gratifying acts of my life. I think you must know this friend, Gen^l[General] L White, but you can not know him as I do, or he would not want an advocate with you, for he is one of the most liberal disinterested & noble minded men I ever knew, with talants, and such a

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knowledge of business generally as to fit him for almost any office, you may remember him as a membre of the senate (state or as its secratary, & therefore know him to be a good clerke, he was about eight years Clerk of the Galatin C. C. and something of that sort, or a Land office &c[etc.] would be of great servis now, for altho[although]’ his liberality has made the fortunes of some, & greatly contributed to that of others, he is now poor, & affoards a striking exemplification of the oald saying that, the memory of benafits are trased in sand,6 or as Byron says more bitterly, & I fear not less truely that ‘benafits turn poisous in bad minds’7 for not a few who have risen to affluence, or office, by his liberality & influanse, have sinse spurned from them the ladder by which they rose. Gen^l W. has been conserned in some iron workes in this state & also in Kent. and was still in Kentucky when I last heard from ^him^ His application for office may be made through some one there, & if you can consistantly give it your suppoart, you will do a kindness to a most deserving man, & add to the many favours & courtisys I have already received at your hands, & for which you have my best regards, and warmest ^wishes^

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for the happiness & prosperity of you & yours–8Yours most Truly W^m WilsonHon A. Lincon
Carmi Il[Illinois]
28^th Augt[August]

^Free^ 5
Hon. Abraham LinconSpringfieldIll

[ docketing ]
08/24/1849
Aug,[August] 24 49[1849]

1William Wilson wrote and signed this letter, including the address on the last sheet, which was folded to create an envelope.

2Paraphrase of a portion of Pericles’ funeral oration, recorded by Thucycdides in book two of his History of the Peloponnesian War.
Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, trans. William Smith (New York: Robert Carter and Brothers, 1849), 65-66; John Eyre Yonge, Scriptores Graeci: Selections From Greek Prose Writers (London: E. P. Williams, 1861), 377.

3No correspondence between Abraham Lincoln and Edwin B. Webb or Lincoln and William H. Davidson regarding Dr. Joseph B. Brown has been located.

4This is a reference to Albany Medical College in Albany, New York.
Isaac S. Signor, Landmarks of Orleans County New York (Syracuse: D. Mason, 1894), 139.

5“N.B.” is an abbreviation for the Latin phrase nota bene, meaning “note well” or “note specifically.” It is often used to draw special attention to a point.
Lesley Brown, ed., The New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993), 2:1944.

6Allusion to the popular expression, “Injuries are engraved on brass, and benefits are traced in sand.”
James Middlemore, Proverbs Sayings and Comparisons in Various Languages (London: Wm. Isbister, 1889), 171.

7Partial quotation from George G. Byron’s play Sardanapalus.
Lord Byron, Sardanapalus, A Tragedy, Act 4, Scene 1, in The Works of the Rt. Hon. Lord Byron (New York: Wm. Borradaile, 1825), 4:157.

8Lincoln enclosed this letter from Wilson in a September 14, 1849 letter he wrote to President Zachary Taylor recommending Brown and Leonard White for employment. No correspondence from Lincoln to anyone in Kentucky regarding White has been located.
Brown is listed in the official registers of the officers and agents of the government for the years 1849 through the Civil War and beyond as a surgeon for the U.S. Army. White’s name does not appear in the official registers of the officers and agents of the government for 1849, 1851, and 1853, so apparently he did not receive an appointment.
Register of all Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, on the Thirtieth September, 1849 (Washington, DC: Gideon, 1849), 160; Register of all Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, on the Thirtieth September, 1851 (Washington, DC: Gideon, 1851), 173; Register of Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, on the Thirtieth September, 1853 (Washington, DC: Robert Armstrong, 1853), 169; Register of Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, on the Thirtieth September, 1855 (Washington, DC: A. O. P. Nicholson, 1855), 106; Register of Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, on the Thirtieth September, 1857 (Washington, DC: A. O. P. Nicholson, 1857), 110; Register of Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, on the Thirtieth September, 1859 (Washington, DC: William A. Harris, 1859), 111; Register of Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, on the Thirtieth September, 1861 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1862), 116; Register of Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, on the Thirtieth September, 1863 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1864), 149; Official Register of the United States, Containing a List of Officers and Employés in the Civil, Military, and Naval Service on the First of July, 1883 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1883), 1:409.