Lincoln, Abraham, as Sixteenth President-Elect

Letter signed ("A. Lincoln"), text in the hand of John Nicolay, one page (8 5/8 x 5 1/4 in.; 218 x 135 mm) on a bifolium, Springfield, 26 January 1861, to Major David Hunter; stained, fold separations repaired with transparent tape, mounting remnants on verso of integral blank.

Letter signed ("A. Lincoln"), text in the hand of John Nicolay, one page (8 5/8 x 5 1/4 in.; 218 x 135 mm) on a bifolium, Springfield, 26 January 1861, to Major David Hunter; stained, fold separations repaired with transparent tape, mounting remnants on verso of integral blank.
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The president-elect plans the railway tour to his inauguration: "I find the journey will have to be a circuitous, and rather tedious one."

Lincoln spent the twelve weeks between his election and his trip to Washington for his inauguration in Springfield selecting his cabinet and other administrative appointees, tying up personal and professional matters—and watching the United States begin to disunite. Although the Illinois Republican easily took the Electoral College—including all of the Northern States—his popular vote represented just 40% of the ballots cast, and James Breckinridge (running as a Southern Democrat) and John Bell (representing the Constitutional Union Party) won the electoral votes of fourteen Southern and Border States. Just four days after Lincoln's victory, South Carolina authorized a secession convention, and by the end of January, six states from the Deep South had left the Union. Before Lincoln even reached Washington, let alone has taken the oath of office, Jefferson Davis had been sworn in as President of the Confederate States of America at Montgomery, Alabama.

So Lincoln, always comfortable—and usually successful—on the stump, prepared for the most important campaign tour of his life. This nearly 2,000-mile railway journey had three principle objects, summarized by David Herbert Donald as "giv[ing] the people an opportunity to become acquainted with their new Chief Executive, the first American President to be born west of the Appalachian Mountains"; "encouraging support for the Union and fostering loyalty among the Northern people"; and "laying the groundwork for the policies that his administration would pursue" (see Lincoln, pp. 273-79, for a full account of the Springfield to Washington train trip).

Lincoln here confirms that he expects to be joined on the long and necessarily indirect route by Major David Hunter, the paymaster at Fort Leavenworth: "I have determined to leave here for Washington on February 11th, subject to be changed for any extraordinary cause. I find the journey will have to be a circuitous, and rather tedious one. I expect the pleasure of your company."

Hunter had begun a correspondence with Lincoln soon after the latter's election. Since no official military escort was assigned to the inauguration train, Hunter was one of several officers who volunteered to fill that role. Hunter had much to do at the many whistlestops, which Lincoln actually found more invigorating than "tedious." According to Donald, "At Buffalo there was such a wild confusion that Major Hunter dislocated his shoulder in his efforts to protect the President-elect from his overenthusiastic admirers" (Lincoln, p. 274).

Hunter and Lincoln developed a close friendship during the journey and by May, Hunter had been appointed a brigadier general, ranking fourth among all generals of volunteers. The appointment was based on Hunter's personal compatability with the President, rather than his military ability, and "he became a prime example of Lincoln's inability—at that stage of the war—to select officers for high command" (Generals in Blue).

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