Lincoln, Abraham, as Sixteenth President

Autograph endorsement signed ("A. Lincoln"), [Washington], 12 December 1861, presumably to Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles, being six lines on the integral blank of a petition directed to Lincoln by sixteen members of Maryland's House of Delegates, Annapolis, 10 December 1861, 2 1/2 pages (8 x 5 in.; 202 x 126 mm) on a bifolium of Legislature of Maryland | House of Delegates letterhead; a few fold separations, light stain from residue of clumsy transparent tape repair.

Sotheby's, 13 December 1995, lot 234 (undesignated consignor)

Not in The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, ed. Basler, and presumably unpublished.

A border state Marine. Led by the president of the state house, John Summerfield Berry, Maryland legislators urge President Lincoln to grant a military commission: "The undersigned members of the House of Delegates of Maryland respectfully recommend to you, the appointment of Robert H. Thompson Esqr of this state as a Lieut of Marines. Mr. Thompson is a loyal man of a loyal family, and we are sure that he has all the personal characteristics necessary in an efficient military or naval officer." The petition is also endorsed by the state's Civil War governor, Thomas Holliday Hicks, who writes in a marginal note: "I concur fully in all said by the Gentlemen whose are hereto subscribed."

Hicks had been instrumental in preventing Maryland's secession, and Lincoln was clearly eager to accomodate him and other loyal Marylanders. The President added the following endorsement and sent the the petition on to Gideon Welles in the Department of the Navy: "If there is a vacancy not already committed to any other, let the gentleman within recommended be approved."