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

Autograph endorsement SIGNED by Abraham Lincoln, as President of the United States, to Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, Washington, D.C., 22 January 1863.

LINCOLN ASSISTS FRIENDS WHOSE UNDERAGE BOYS HAVE ENLISTED IN THE ARMY WITHOUT THEIR PARENT'S PERMISSION.

A letter containing the intervention of Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865) on behalf of two boys who ran away to join the Union army. Addressed on the back of a letter written by Illinois Governor and personal friend Richard Yates (1815 - 1873), Lincoln writes, "The families to which these boys belong are among my old acquaintances A. Lincoln Jan. 22, 1863."
 

The request made by Yates addressed to Edwin M. Stanton (1814 - 1869) indicates that two boys "Thomas E. Clark and Jonathan C. Bergen of Peteresburgh...respectively 17 and 16 years of age left home some time during the last month without the consent of their parents and joined the 2nd Reg’t U.S Cavalry." Yates continues with his formal request to Stanton that both boys are "respectable & loyal citizens and you will oblige me by discharging these boys the service of the United States."

A fascinating instance of Lincoln intervening on behalf of two patriotic boys from his home state. 

To verso of letter signed by Richard Yates, as Governor of Illinois, to Stanton. Springfield, Illinois, 12 January 1863. 1 page, 4to, on State of Illinois Executive Department illustrated letterhead. Additional inscription to verso: "Respectfully forwarded to the Secty of War, J.B.S. Trud Del for Oak Twp." 

Provenance: Elsie O. and Philip D. Sang, their sale Sotheby Parke Bernet, 8 November 1978, lot 484; Louise Taper, Beverly Hills, California; Property from the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Foundation, their sale, Hindman, Lincoln's Legacy, 21 May 2025, lot 78. 

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