LINCOLN, Abraham. Autograph letter signed ("A. Lincoln") as President, to Secretary of War Simon Cameron (1799-1864), Executive Mansion, [Washington, D.C.], 22 August 1861. 1 page, 8vo, integral blank.
THE PROPERTY OF A LADY
LINCOLN, Abraham. Autograph letter signed ("A. Lincoln") as President, to Secretary of War Simon Cameron (1799-1864), Executive Mansion, [Washington, D.C.], 22 August 1861. 1 page, 8vo, integral blank.

Details
LINCOLN, Abraham. Autograph letter signed ("A. Lincoln") as President, to Secretary of War Simon Cameron (1799-1864), Executive Mansion, [Washington, D.C.], 22 August 1861. 1 page, 8vo, integral blank.
THE PRESIDENT AIDS "ONE OF MY MOST VALUED FRIENDS" AND "THE VERY BEST CLERK I EVER KNEW"

A scant five months after becoming president of a divided nation, Lincoln attempts to secure an appointment in the quartermaster corps for an Illinois friend and former law clerk: "Victor B. Bell, now of Colorado, is one of my most valued friends; and one of the best, if not the very best Clerk I ever knew. I would like for him to be an Asst. Q[uarte]r M[aste]r or Com[missary] of Sub[sistence] of Volunteers. Can you not fix it for me?"

Bell had represented Wabash County in the Illinois House of Representatives, 1853-1854. Evidently, Secretary Cameron was either unwilling or unable to "fix it" as the President requested, and there is no record of Bell having ever received such a commission. Published (from a published transcript) in Collected Works, ed. R.P. Basler, 4:496.

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