Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

William S. Gale and Others to Abraham Lincoln, 12 August 18561
Galesburg Aug 12. 1856Hon A. LincolnDr.[Dear] Sir,
The 12. Sep[September] next, the Republicans expect a large gathering here. It will be upon the heels of the Equestrian Fair, coming off the 9. 10. & 11.2 Altogether likely to draw a vast multitude.

We are anxious to secure the presence of entertaining speakers, and you must come if possible. There will be a good opportunity to do your country some service.3
Yours Truly.W. S. GaleJ. TildenT MoshierA C WileyG I. Bergen
Committee

1William S. Gale wrote this letter and signed the names of all of the authors.

2According to an advertisement in The Ogle County Reporter, the equestrian fair was scheduled in Galesburg on the 10, 11, and 12 of December 1856. It was scheduled for September in Galesburg in 1857.
The Ogle County Reporter (Oregon, IL), 11 July 1856, 2:3; The Alton Weekly Courier (IL), 13 August 1857, 2:5.

3A response from Abraham Lincoln, if he penned one, has not been found. On September 12, Lincoln spoke to an audience at a Republican meeting in Major’s Hall in Bloomington, Illinois and attended to legal matters.
This invitation was one of several Lincoln received during the summer and fall of 1856 as Republicans battled for political power in Illinois and the nation. Between July and November 1856, Lincoln crisscrossed the state canvassing on behalf of Republican Party candidates for political office. He delivered over fifty speeches in support of the Republican cause. See the 1856 Federal Election.
The Lincoln Log: A Daily Chronology of the Life of Abraham Lincoln, 12 September 1856, http://www.thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1856-09-12; 1 November 1856, http://thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1856-11-01; Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), 1:425-33.