Details
THE PROPERTY OF A LADY
LINCOLN, ABRAHAM, President. Autograph letter signed ("A. Lincoln") as President, to Quarter Master General, [Brigadier General Montgomery C. Meigs], Executive Mansion [Washington, D.C.], 31 August 1861. 1 page, 8vo, 200 x 128mm. (8 x 5 in.), integral blank.
"Dear Sir, I am acquainted with Mr. George Opdycke, of the firm of Geo. Opdycke & Co. of N.Y. He is a merchant of very high reputation. He declined being an applicant for Collector of that Port, when it was not sure he might not receive the appointment. I should be very confident that any engagement he would make would be faithfully fulfilled...."
George Opdycke (1805-1880), a self-made millionaire, established the first garment manufacturing factory in New York; making principally rough clothing for plantation workers. By 1853 he was a millionaire. In his wide travels in the South, Opdycke became convinced of the evils of slavery. He was an active supporter of the Free-Soil Party from 1848 and joined the Republican Party in 1854. He was a delegate to the 1860 Republican Convention, where he opposed Seward and helped Lincoln secure the nomination. During the war he manufactured uniforms and munitions for the Federal government. As Mayor of New York, 1862-63, he was active in quelling the New York Draft Riots. Lincoln seems to have had a high opinion of George Opdycke, and relied on Opdycke's recommendations in connection with several appointments in New York (see his letters to S.P. Chase, 18 May 1861 and to G. Welles, 11 July 1861). Apparently unpublished, not in Collected Works, ed. R.P. Basler, or Supplements.