Note: Please see Day 3 (October 11) of the sale that features rare material relating to the Gettysburg Address.

It wasn't any wonder then that the old 8th Ill. was Lincoln's favorite regiment. 

Typed document signed by Hortentio D. Kelley. [Topeka, Kansas, 1929]. Disbound, 3 pages, 8vo. Jugate portrait of Washington and Lincoln to verso. 

A typed recollection from a veteran of the 8th Illinois Cavalry, Hortentio Doane Kelley (1840-1930). Notably, he includes his two encounters with President Abraham Lincoln. 

He writes: "In response to Lincoln's first call for troops, I enlisted on September 1, 1861 for three years, in Co. F. 8th Ill. Cav. The first of October, 1861, we landed in Washington D.C. As soon as our train pulled in and we unloaded, we at once marched to the White House. Abraham Lincoln came out and addressed us. That was the first time I saw Lincoln. Col. Farnsworth, who organized the regiment, was a close personal friend of Lincoln. Major Beverige of the 8th Ill. was a business partner of Colonel Farnsworth and, therefore, a friend of Lincoln. It wasn't any wonder then that the old 8th Ill. was Lincoln's favorite regiment." He concludes: "In the spring of 1863, I saw Lincoln again when he reviewed the Army of the Potomac." 

Called "Farnsworth's Abolitionist Regiment" by President Lincoln, the 8th Illinois Cavalry was the only Illinois cavalry regiment to serve the entirety of the war in the Army of the Potomac. They saw several major battles, including Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Gettysburg. During the latter, Lt. Marcellus E. Jones (1830-1900) fired what is considered the first shot of the battle when he aimed and took fire at an unidentified Confederate on horseback. After President Lincoln's assassination, the regiment aided in the hunt for John Wilkes Booth (1838-1865) and served in Lincoln's honor guard while he lay in state in the rotunda. 

[Civil War, Union, Confederate] [Manuscripts, Documents, Letters, Ephemera, Signatures, Autographs] [Abraham Lincoln, Politics, Mary Todd Lincoln, 1860 Election, Election of 1860, 1864 Election, Election of 1864,  Lincoln Assassination, John Wilkes Booth] 

Appears disbound with pencil page numbers 47-49.