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At the Institute’s core is the Gilder Lehrman Collection, one of the great archives in American history. More than 85,000 items cover five hundred years of American history, from Columbus’s 1493 letter describing the New World through the end of the twentieth century.

Lincoln, Abraham (1809-1865) to Ward H. Lamon

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC00496.048 Author/Creator: Lincoln, Abraham (1809-1865) Place Written: Springfield, Illinois Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 7 January 1860 Pagination: 1 p. ; 25 x 20 cm. Order a Copy

Refuses Lamon's request for him to take on a new case at Bloomington, because he is "so pressed" in Springfield at the time.

Notes: Not in Basler. Lamon was a friend and fellow attorney of Lincoln in Illinois. Basler notes (2: 210n) that the two men established a law office together in Danville, Illinois and "were in partnership to some extent." Lincoln appointed Lamon Marshall of the District of Columbia in April 1861 (4: 319), and later invited Lamon to preside as Marshall at the Gettysburg ceremony (7: 7).

Springfield, Jany. 7. 1860
W. H. Lamon, Esq.
My dear Sir:
Yours of the 5th was received this morning. I suppose I shall have to be at Bloomington before court is over; but I am so pressed here that I could not consistently, engage in a new case at Bloomington. I am sorry I can not oblige you; but really I can not, in this case.
Your friend as ever
A. Lincoln

Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865

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