AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED, ON PLAIN LINED PAPER, TO E.B. FRENCH, DATED AT HAMPDEN [MAINE], AUGUST 19, 1861, ASKING FOR HELP IN SECURING A CAPTAIN'S COMMISSION FOR J.C. PETERSON: "I DESIRE TO ASK A PERSONAL FAVOR OF YOU. IT IS FOR YOU TO SEE THE SECY OR AST SECY OF WAR, FOR ME, IN THE CASE I WILL STATE, AND YOU WILL SUBMIT THIS LETTER TO THE SECY. I FEAR IF I WRITE AN ORDINARY LETTER, IT MAY BE OVERLOOKED IN THE PRESS OF BUSINESS AND HENCE I ASK YOUR IMMEDIATE PERSONAL ATTENTION TO IT. "I INTENDED TO RECOMMEND J.C. PETERSON, A NATIVE OF N.Y. BUT NOW A PHYSICIAN AT ST. JOHN N.B. FOR A CAPT IN THE ARMY. I SUPPOSED I DID SO, BUT J.C. PATTERSON - NOT PETERSON, HAS BEEN NOMINATED & CONFIRMED A CAPT. THERE IS NO SUCH MAN. THERE MUST THEREFORE BE A V

Hamlin, Hannibal

About this Item

5" x 8". Laid into a crude mat. Recto is glued to the mat, which is cut to expose the areas of text and to cover the blank areas. Some light glue stains [not affecting legibility]. Except for the choice of matting, Very Good. Vice President Hamlin's Letter suggests the impotence of his office. Writing from his home or law office in Hampden, he appeals for help from his fellow Maine politician E.B. French. French had just completed his term in Congress; President Lincoln appointed him Second Auditor of the Treasury on August 3, 1861. Hamlin is anxious to correct the bureaucratic snafu for which, at least in part, he seems to blame himself. These efforts would prove successful: Executive Proceedings of the Senate show J.C. Peterson's name on a list, proposed by the Secretary of War, for appointment as Captain of the Fifteenth Regiment of infantry as of August 5, 1861; Lincoln officially nominated all those on the list on December 6, 1861; and Peterson was among the appointees receiving the Senate's blessing. [Executive Journal of the Senate, 37th Congress, 2d Session, Dec. 12, 1861.] Originally a Democrat and a long-time political fixture in Maine, Hamlin left his Party as an opponent of the Kansas-Nebraska Act. He was elected Maine's Republican Governor in 1857; in 1860 Lincoln picked him as his running mate in an effort to unite northern Unionists. John C. Peterson [1831-1867], a homeopathic physician and surgeon, is listed in the 1850 Federal Census as a 19-years-old physician. He enlisted on April 15, 1861; and served as Captain in the 15th U.S. Infantry Regiment from August 1861 to August 1864. By early 1863 he was attached to Gen. Rosecrans' staff as Assistant Inspector General, Army of the Cumberland. His death is listed in the Coroner's Inquest Reports of Seneca County, New York, as suicide by self inflicted gunshot wound on October 7, 1867. [THE NEW-ENGLAND MEDICAL GAZETTE. VOLUME V. Boston: 1870, pp.260-263; THE WAR OF THE REBELLION. SERIES 1, VOL. XXIII, IN TWO PARTS. PART II. Washington: 1889, pp. 77-78; 'Furlough," posted March 15, 2013, at website of Blue Gray Review.]. Seller Inventory # 35239

Bibliographic Details

Title: AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED, ON PLAIN LINED ...

Binding: Soft cover