About this Item
Partially Printed Document Signed, Riggs & Co. Bank check, October 27, 1862, Washington, D.C. 1 p., 7 1/2 x 2 3/4 in. Filled out and signed by Lincoln as president, payable to "William Johnson (Colored)" for $5. Johnson accompanied Lincoln from Springfield to Washington, D.C., served as the President's valet, and traveled with him to Antietam (25 days before this check) and a year later to Gettysburg. William Henry Johnson (ca. 1833-1864) was a free black servant who accompanied the president-elect, while under threat of assassination, on his journey from Springfield to Washington, D.C. In February 1861, a journalist described Johnson as "a likey mulatto, although not exactly the most prominent" and "yet a very useful member of the party. The untiring vigilance with which he took care of the Presidential party is entitled to high credit."[1] Lincoln's identification of Johnson as "Colored" would allow him to cash the check without additional difficulty.Upon arrival in the capital, Lincoln found employment for Johnson stoking the furnace of the Executive Mansion, but the other African-American White House workers "objected to his dark complexion so vehemently that Lincoln had to find him another post."[2] Lincoln unsuccessfully tried to secure a position for Johnson with Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles.[3] On November 29, 1861, the president wrote to Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase: "You remember kindly asking me, some time ago whether I really desired you to find a place for William Johnson, a colored boy who came from Illinois with me. If you can find him the place [I] shall really be obliged."[4]Chase hired Johnson as a porter at the Treasury Department with an annual salary of $600, and Johnson continued to serve Lincoln in a private capacity. Johnson shaved and helped Lincoln dress each morning. In addition to barber, butler, groomer, fire-keeper, bootblack, and valet, Johnson served as a driver, errand runner, and even bodyguard. Lincoln trusted him to convey messages and at times significant sums of money.[5]Johnson accompanied Lincoln, as valet and bodyguard, to the Antietam battlefield on October 2, 1862 - two weeks after the declared victory finally allowed Lincoln to issue the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. It is interesting to speculate whether this check, dated 25 days later, was related to that trip.Johnson's most consequential trip was accompanying Lincoln to Gettysburg for the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery. There was a smallpox epidemic in Washington, D.C. at the time. Mary Lincoln did not accompany her husband to Gettysburg on November 18 because their son Tad had varioloid. That morning, Lincoln made sure his indispensable man was with him, sending a brief note to Johnson's supervisor at the Department of Treasury: "William goes with me to Gettysburg."[6]During the train ride, Lincoln looked "sallow, sunken-eyed, thin, careworn."[7] At the ceremony, he was described by reporters as "listless," "sweating," and "discouraged." On the return trip, Lincoln went to bed in the Presidential train car with a bad headache. Johnson kept him cool, bathing his forehead in cold water.[8] Upon returning to the White House, Lincoln was diagnosed with "varioloid," a mild form of smallpox. Recent research suggests his case was more serious, and the "mild" diagnoses might have been meant to reassure Mary Lincoln and the public.[9] The President was quarantined and bedridden for three weeks. Soon after, Johnson contracted the disease.In January 1864, a regular correspondent for The Chicago Tribune came upon Lincoln counting out greenbacks. The President explained, "This sir, is something out of my usual line; but a President of the United States has a multiplicity of duties not specified in the Constitution or acts of Congress. This is one of them. The money belongs to a poor negro who is a porter in one of the departments, and who is at present very bad . (See website for full description). Seller Inventory # 27740
Contact seller
Report this item
