Lincoln: Prelude to the Presidency

Lincoln in Vermilion County

Mr. Lincoln again stepped out and addressing himself to the enthusiastic gathering remarked that if he had any blessings to dispense, he would certainly dispense the largest and roundest to his good ole friends of Vermilion County.
New York Herald February 12, 1861 reporting on Lincoln’s February 11th stop in Danville on his way to Washington, his last time in Illinois.

Lincoln’s professional home away from home was the Eighth Judicial Circuit, one of the legislatively created groups of counties through which the judge and lawyers traveled every spring and fall. At its largest it included fifteen counties, one of which was Vermilion. Lincoln was the most regular on the Circuit and one of the few who rode the entire Circuit. He usually stayed out the entire ten to twelve weeks of the consecutive court sessions thus becoming imbedded in each of the communities and forming fast and lasting friendships that served him well both professionally and politically for his entire career. In Danville these friendships included early settler Dr. William Fithian, important client and influential politician, attorney Ward Hill Lamon with whom Lincoln entered into a loose association that led to an inordinate volume of business in the Circuit Court of Vermilion County and attorney Oliver Davis who appeared with or against Lincoln on the majority of his cases in Danville.

Danville, along with Paris, was the eastern most reach of the 10,000 square mile Circuit. Court week in Vermilion County was described by Champaign County’s Henry Clay Whitney as the most congenial, relaxed, and enjoyable of the entire Circuit. Vermilion County became a part of the Circuit in 1845 and remained so throughout the balance of Lincoln’s career. While in the Illinois Legislature, David Davis of Bloomington, who was the Judge of the Circuit from 1848 to 1862, was instrumental in passage of the legislation placing the county into the Circuit. He did so because it was a strong Whig county to offset the strong Democratic influence of Shelby County.

THE ROAD FROM URBANA TO DANVILLE

Lincoln’s first visit to Vermilion County was in May of 1841, four years after his admission to practice. He had been hired in Springfield by fellow legislator and political ally, William Fithian as the latter advised Danville friend Amos Williams in a letter dated January 11, 1841 written from Springfield simply stated, “I have employed a lawyer.” Lincoln attended the semi-annual court sessions regularly from then until 1860.

The road from Urbana to Danville, approximately 35 miles, was one of the more strenuous but scenic routes of the Circuit, winding through miles of tall grass prairie, oak savannah, and a variety of river bottoms. Crossing the Salt Fork at the site of Kelly’s Tavern in Champaign County it then reached the county line now marked by one of the nineteen county markers placed throughout the Circuit in 1922 by The Lincoln Circuit Marking Association. The driving force behind the placement of these markers at every county line where Lincoln and his comrades crossed was Lottie Jones of Danville, a highly respected school administrator and local historian. Because of Jones the Association was based in Danville where its annual banquet was held throughout the 1920’s and into the 1930’s. Jones persistence in locating and placing the markers irritated some around the Circuit, but it also assured the success of the project, no small feat. The series of markers is a significant contribution to the story of Lincoln and the Circuit. Jones enlisted Henry Bacon, the architect of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington to design a differently styled marker to be placed at every courthouse site of Lincoln’s time. Curiously in Danville it is not that site, but is located at the northwest corner of Main and Logan.

From the county line, the road still has never been paved retaining the ambience of the Lincoln era as it winds its way toward Danville curving, and rolling in a way more recent roads do not. From the marker it passes Botkin Cemetery, dating from Lincoln’s time. The route is still dotted with stately oaks which witnessed Lincoln’s passing. It passes the Smith Farm where Davis, Lincoln, and State’s Attorney David Campbell stayed in May of 1852 on their way to Danville from Urbana having been held up there by heavy afternoon rains. The location is inexplicably marked by a Bacon Courthouse Marker though with a different legend. Then the road passes just north of Conkeytown where Lincoln is said to have stayed on occasion with the Dalbey family. The road curves and descends to the picturesque crossing of Stony Creek then joins U. S. Route 150 near the site of the Hubbard House, now gone, where Lincoln reportedly stayed. Then it headed down a steep incline to cross the Middle Fork of the Vermilion at the site of the Saline’s, destroyed by strip mining long ago. The Saline’s, the site of commercial salt operations, were the first settlement in Vermilion County in September of 1819. They were made commercially viable by John Vance who arrived in 1824 from Urbana, Champaign County, Ohio, pushing production to 100 bushels per week with nine employees.

Vance served in the Illinois Senate from 1832 to 1838. During his first term he introduced the bill carving Champaign County out of Vermilion. Vance was an early and long-time client of Lincoln’s. Lincoln recovered a verdict for him in the U. S. District Court in Springfield in 1844 and addressed Vance in his letter reporting on this verdict, “My dear Old Friend.” On June 9, 1860, some three years after Vance’s death, while winding up his law practice Lincoln wrote Vance’s widow reporting, with some irritation, that he was not holding any money of Vance’s.

Crossing the Middle Fork the road climbed steeply up Kistler Hill, a portion of which road still exists. After several miles on the bluff, the road again descends to the North Fork of the Vermilion where it was crossed in the vicinity of the present day walking bridge in Ellsworth Park. From there the intrepid lawyers followed the river downstream almost to the junction of the two branches of the Vermilion and then ascended a fairly steep spine of the bluff to reach the edge of Danville itself.

Whitney recalls an incident when he and Lincoln were riding to Danville after dark in a two-seat carriage on a dismal day in the fall of the year with Leonard Swett and his wife in the other seat. The narrow road wound through heavily timbered bottoms with deep ditches on each side. For safety sake Lincoln and Whitney rolled up their pants, jumped out into the muddy road, and walked ahead guiding the wagon at first by shouting back and then Lincoln began singing his version of “an old Methodist Air.” Thus this passage through the somewhat treacherous bottom was maneuvered by the late evening travelers.

EARLY DANVILLE HISTORY

The Danville to which Lincoln came in the spring of 1841 was one of the more advanced cities on the Circuit. Because it sat on the eastern edge of the vast, unsettled prairie to the west it was settled earlier and evolved more rapidly than most of the other cities of the Circuit. Vermilion was one of the largest and most influential counties. Established in 1826, its earliest settlement at the Saline’s was not suitable for a town so after an aborted effort to locate the county seat to the west, the mouth of the North Fork of the Vermilion was chosen. The land was donated by Dan Beckwith, the county surveyor who surveyed and laid out 100 lots. Amos Williams, who migrated up from Paris helped organize the county and proposed the name of “Danville” for Beckwith. Beckwith, a native of Pennsylvania, had arrived in 1819 and built the town’s first cabin as he traded with the areas Kickapoo and Pottawatomie.
The active Indian trade also involved Guerdon Saltonstall Hubbard, one of the more colorful figures in Illinois history. Affiliated with the American Fur Company, he established a trading post in Danville. A native of Vermont, he grew up in Montreal and came west to work for the fur company. After reaching Chicago in 1818, he came to the area of Vermilion County in 1819, to run the fur trade in the area. He took a Pottawatomie bride. In 1824 he took over the American Fur Company’s trade and established a trading post in Danville. He also plotted the road from the Salines to Chicago known as Hubbard Trace which now approximately follows Route 1. In 1832, on the site of the original log courthouse, he was the contractor for the courthouse in which Lincoln was to practice, a 50’ square building at the location of the present courthouse. In 1833 he left for Chicago where he became a pioneer developer and builder of that city. In 1834 he traveled to Vandalia to lobby for canals and other improvements that might benefit Chicago. He reconnected there with Lincoln as they had served together in the Black Hawk War. He introduced Lincoln to Fithian. He became an active Whig in Chicago and remained in contact with Lincoln throughout the years as they both became moderate Republicans.

The government land office was placed in Danville in 1831, a major development for the economy of the town because of the sale of land over the next several decades, many of which transactions came through Danville as speculators flocked into town to buy central Illinois land. The town’s first newspaper was started in 1833 and the State Bank of Illinois located a branch in Danville in 1836. Danville was a major point of departure for the less settled counties to the west.

LINCOLN AND WILLIAM FITHIAN

The case that brought Lincoln to Danville for the first time was Hezekiah Cunningham v. William Fithian which arose out of real estate speculation in Milwaukee in Wisconsin territory. In 1836 several men including Cunningham had engaged Fithian as an agent to buy land from Solomon Juneau, pioneer developer of, and first mayor of, Milwaukee. The three gave Fithian promissory notes to fund land purchases he made on their behalf. They refused to pay the notes, charging Fithian with fraud. Fithian sued them in Danville in 1840 and 1841 with Lincoln as his attorney. Lincoln was associated with fellow Springfield lawyer Edward Baker for whom he had named his second son. Cunningham was represented by John Brown and Isaac Walker who would one day be a United States Senator from Wisconsin. The jury ruled for Fithian and awarded him $2,500.

Fithian was born in 1799 in Ohio where he trained as a doctor practicing in Urbana, Ohio before coming to Danville in 1830. Fithian built a cabin above the river. Guerdon Hubbard and he were close, Hubbard boarding with Fithian.Hubbard sold Fithian his trading post and they married sisters. He also guided Fithian on real estate investments in Chicago and Milwaukee. The trading post he purchased from Hubbard became a highly successful mercantile establishment. Fithian speculated heavily in land, acquiring vast acreage west of Danville which made him wealthy. He was also a hard working doctor riding miles and miles across the prairie serving his patients. He also fought in the Black Hawk War and was elected to the Legislature as a Whig in 1834. When Hubbard introduced him to Lincoln, a relationship was formed that served both men well throughout Lincoln’s life. Fithian was perhaps the most important citizen of Danville. He brought others to Danville to work for him only to see them also become leading citizens. He was the leading Whig in east central Illinois and of substantial assistance to Lincoln. They served in the Legislature together from 1834 to 1842. Lincoln’s legal and political career was substantially enhanced by his relationship to Danville’s most influential citizen.

Lincoln handled six cases for Fithian, more than any other client in Danville. Letters from Lincoln to Fithian advising on real estate in Sangamon and Menard Counties in 1850 and offering sage, concise advice on a collection matter in 1855 suggest the depth of Fithian’s reliance on his Springfield lawyer. The most notable case that Lincoln handled for Fithian was the high profile slander case of William Fithian v. George W. Casseday. Casseday also was a prominent citizen of Danville having built the first steam mill on the river in 1836. He had a long history of bad blood with Fithian going back to a vicious attack on Fithian in a Danville paper in 1842 during Fithian’s Illinois Senate campaign. The later dispute started between factions of the Presbyterian and Methodist churches. As the bitterness deepened, the Methodist Church led by Casseday, a member, built a seminary. The Presbyterians responded by building their own seminary. In May of 1851, Judge Davis referred in a letter to his wife to the “Squaw War” that had divided the people of the town. “Casseday is at the bottom of it all. The result. They built two seminaries to cost $4,000 or $5,000.” This led to a battle of libelous handbills between the two men. In the last one Casseday accused Fithian of abandoning his deceased wife’s body prior to burial in Paris, referring Fithian variously as an “inhuman monster, vile heartless wretch, unfeeling reptile.” These accusations were too much for Fithian who engaged Oliver Davis of Danville, Lincoln, and the skilled Usher Linder of Charleston to sue Casseday. Casseday was defended by the brilliant Edward A. Hannegan of Covington, Indiana.

A charming, gifted lawyer, Hannegan, had served as a Democrat in the Congress and in the United States Senate as well as Ambassador to Prussia under President James K. Polk. Davis said of him, “Mr. Hannegan is a beautiful speaker, companionable, pleasant gentleman as I ever associated with.” A heavy drinker, in a drunken brawl he stabbed his brother in law to death. He moved to St. Louis and there died from an overdose of drugs and alcohol. John Murphy and Ward Hill Lamon assisted Hannegan. The trial was held in October of 1851 characterized by Davis as an “exciting trial.” “The ladies of town in great number as ever present all the time.” The courtroom was packed while outside a huge crowd jammed the public square. Forty-one witnesses were called, including many of the leading citizens of the city. The suit sought $25,000. The jury rejected Casseday’s defense of the truth of the statements and awarded a verdict in the amount of $547.90. Casseday paid the judgment and for many years thereafter listed on his personal property tax schedule the following, “The character of Dr. Fithian $547.90 which I bought and paid for.” Davis closes his comment on the trial stating, “Our passions do a great deal to make us miserable.”

LINCOLN’S LAW PRACTICE AND WARD HILL LAMON

Lincoln handled over 210 cases in Danville, more than any other county except Sangamon and its neighbors of Menard and Tazewell counties. The reason for this was his association with Ward Hill Lamon which was announced in two newspapers in 1852. As loose as it was, this was the only arrangement like this made by Lincoln during his years in practice outside of his three partnerships. Their office was located on the second floor of the Barnum building on the north side of Main Street just west of Vermilion. Furniture from this office is well displayed now in the Vermilion County Museum.

In 1852 he and Lamon associated on seven cases, in ’53 nine, in ’54 thirty-six, in ’55 forty four cases, and in ’56 twenty seven. During the same period Lincoln had only eight cases without association with Lamon. The Lamon family themselves were a source of business for Lincoln and he and Lamon handled ten cases involving various family members. Hill himself was a party to several of these lawsuits. The partnership ended abruptly with Lamon’s election to the office of State’s Attorney for the Circuit replacing the deceased David Campbell. Lamon’s personal relationship with Lincoln was particularly close. Lincoln referred to him as his, “particular friend.”

A native of Bunker Hill in western Virginia, Lamon was born in 1828 and came to Danville in 1847, drawn by his cousin Dr. Theodore Lamon. He studied law in the office of Oliver Davis and then attended law school in Louisville at the same time as John A. Logan in 1849 and 1850. He was admitted to the practice in Kentucky in March of 1850. Upon his return to Danville, he organized the first county fair with John Vance and James Milliken, one day prominent citizen of Decatur. He returned to West Virginia and eloped with Angelina Turner who brought her slave Topsy to Danville, who remained a servant to the family for many years. In January of 1851 he was admitted to practice in Illinois and went into partnership with Joseph Peters which lasted for about a year, when he took up his association with Lincoln. He drew a great deal of business to himself and Lincoln. He was immensely popular because of his personality, charm, and sense of humor. Strikingly handsome, he was 6’2”, blue eyed, with hair to his shoulders. In dress and demeanor he was a dandy. A man of considerable strength, he loved to wrestle and box. He fought, drank, gambled, and was a ladies’ man. He was a renowned joke teller who loved to sing, often minstrel songs. He was emotionally intemperate, indiscreet, and impulsive, often representing the opposite values for which Lincoln was known. The Danville Independent implored delegates not to support Lamon for State’s Attorney because of his, “pro-slavery tendencies” and his “reckless dissipation.” The correspondence between Lincoln and Lamon reflects their close friendship. For example Lamon sent Lincoln a letter in 1860 about political matters, but enclosed a relatively scatological poem with a post script, “…being a candidate for a little office like that which you are running for has not blunted your appreciation for the ridiculous.”

He was active in politics and in 1856 was nominated for State’s Attorney at the “Lost Speech” Convention in Bloomington to which office he was elected. This caused his move to Bloomington to be in a more central location within the Circuit. Because of the pressure of business in the growing Circuit, he occasionally hired other lawyers including Lincoln to assist with the prosecution of significant cases.
Lamon actively supported Lincoln in 1858 and frequently campaigned with him. In 1860 he played a role at the Chicago Convention, hospitality and backslapping being his main function; however he also was assigned to work the Virginia Delegation.

As the Convention began, Seward was the heavy favorite. The first day the boisterous crowd seemed to favor Seward with loud and raucous cheering. That night Lamon located an Indianapolis lawyer who knew the printer of the passes to the Convention. Lamon was able to obtain a supply of the passes and spent the night with John Marshall of Charleston and Henry Russell of Urbana forging the names of convention officials on the passes and then passing them out to Lincoln supporters. When the Seward supporters arrived in force at the convention hall the next day to continue their cheering, they found seats already taken. Lamon also led the floor demonstrations for Lincoln. Seward faded on each ballot and on the third ballot Lincoln was elected. Lamon and his Bloomington law partner, William Orme telegraphed Lincoln “God bless you we are happy and may you ever be. Your success is as sure in November as it has been today.”

Lamon’s wife died in Bloomington on April 13, 1859; they lost two daughters in infancy, leaving but one daughter surviving. While campaigning throughout the fall, Lamon spent a lot of time in Springfield and courted Sally Logan, the daughter of Stephen A. Logan, still single in her early twenties. Lamon married her on November 26, 1860 after the Lincoln victory. Because of their very different natures, it was not a marriage that ever worked very well.
Lincoln’s election went to Lamon’s head. He was criticized for his behavior by Davis and made it clear to Lincoln that he wanted to be appointed as the ambassador to Paris. He rounded up support for that appointment including Davis who wrote Lincoln, “You never had a warmer friend and I know I never did.” However, Lincoln wanted his close friend upon whose company he so relied in Washington, DC.

LINCOLN AND LAMON IN WASHINGTON, D.C.

Lamon accompanied him on his trip to Washington for the Inauguration. He obtained a splendid, ornate uniform for this purpose. The trip was a harrowing one as they had to pass through Baltimore to get to Washington. The city was crawling with insurgents placing Lincoln in danger. Rather than take the Presidential train with the hazardous transfer of trains in the middle of the city, he and Lamon alone snuck through Baltimore in the dead of the night. They arrived safely in Washington only to have Lincoln ridiculed nationwide for his surrupticous entry into the Capitol in disguise. Bizarre though the entrance was, the dangerous passage through Baltimore justified it. Lamon reveled in the recognition brought to him by the news of the midnight train ride. He held forth at the Willard Hotel making it clear to all that he was a primary means of access to Lincoln.

Lincoln appointed him U.S. Marshal for the District of Columbia. This put him in charge of law enforcement in the District as well as operating the jails, a considerable source of revenue for the marshal then. This prominent appointment placed Lamon in a position where he and his wife entertained lavishly while she was in Washington. In his capacity as marshal, Lamon strictly enforced the fugitive slave law making him an immediate target of the radicals in Congress. In furtherance of their intent to crush Lincoln, they were constantly attacking Lamon either to depose him or to severely cut his income to force him out. Lincoln steadfastly stood by him throughout his Presidency.

On March 24, 1861 Lincoln sent Lamon to Charleston, South Carolina where the fuse was burning down as the Civil War approached due to the explosive confrontation at Fort Sumpter. Lamon hardly seems a likely designate to handle this delicate mission, the purpose of which was never clear. Lamon visited the Fort, met with the commanding officer, and met with the Governor of South Carolina. He overstated the importance of his mission thus aggravating the already tense situation. He barely missed igniting a major confrontation with the crowds outside his hotel in Charleston. Whatever the purpose of the visit, nothing was accomplished by it. He returned to Washington three days later.

In June of 1861 he tendered his resignation to raise troops in his native Virginia. Lincoln refused to accept it, so he took a leave of absence for five months to recruit a regiment. His recruiting techniques and the misrepresentations surrounding them caused considerable stir. After recruiting the regiment he returned to Washington, D.C. where the situation continued to deteriorate with his behavior and Congress’ pursuit of him. He got into a near shooting confrontation between his deputies and those of the military governor, a dispute which Lincoln had to resolve.

Lincoln on occasion would spend the night at Lamon’s home in Washington. The high point of his tenure as marshal was his role at Gettysburg for the cemetery dedication where Lincoln delivered the Address. David Wells, the organizer from Gettysburg, invited Lamon to take charge of the procession which he ably did. He arrived on November 17, 1863 a day before Lincoln. He had the privilege of introducing Lincoln for his speech. Also present on the speaker’s platform was Leonard Swett and his son. At the end of 1863 Lincoln gave Lamon a gold watch which he treasured his whole life. Perhaps the low point of his tenure was during the campaign of 1864. On October 1, 1862 Lincoln, accompanied by Lamon, visited the Antietam Battlefield, then the bloodiest battlefield of the War fought several weeks earlier and the scene of unspeakable carnage. As they traveled to the battlefield, Lincoln asked Lamon to sing an appropriately sad song. This so saddened the melancholy President that he then asked for “Picayune Butler” a comic minstrel tune of the day and Lamon obliged. This did not occur on the sanctified soil of the battlefield; however during the McClellan campaign in 1864, this incident was raised to embarrass Lincoln with the sacrilege it implied. He was concerned enough that he prepared a detailed account for Lamon’s signature. As the Lincoln re-election tide swelled, the incident faded away and the account was never needed.

Lamon was Lincoln’s self-appointed bodyguard in Washington, though there was no formal position. Because of his role on the streets of Washington, he understood more than any other person, the grave danger that hung over Lincoln. Lamon was always heavily armed frequently patrolling the White House grounds at night, even sleeping on the floor outside of Lincoln’s room. He was constantly warning Lincoln and urging him to mend his careless ways as to his own safety. He even tendered his resignation to get Lincoln’s attention, when Lincoln had gone unattended to the theatre. In April of 1865 at Lincoln’s request, Lamon went to Richmond to work on arrangements for a reconstruction convention. On the eve of his departure he visited Lincoln in the company of former Eighth Circuit lawyer and Secretary of the Interior, John Usher. Lamon attempted to elicit Lincoln’s promise that, “He would not go out after night when I was gone, particularly to the theatre.” He left for Richmond on April 13, the night before the fatal shot was fired by Booth. Lamon never recovered from his absence that fateful night.

Lincoln’s long time friendship and devotion to Lamon is curious. Throughout his career Lincoln showed a somewhat cold, calculating ability not to let his friendships interfere with his prescribed course of action. He was imminently pragmatic, but sometimes harsh in this way. Not so with Lamon with whom he stuck through thick and thin. For the steady difficulty that Lamon caused Lincoln from his behavior on the Circuit to his more egregious conduct in the bright lights of the presidential years, Lincoln stood by his beleaguered friend. Lamon on the other hand was unswerving in his total loyalty to Lincoln, suffering near financial ruin from the demands of the marshal’s job. John Hay, Lincoln’s Secretary, himself a loyal servant of the President, referred to Lamon’s commitment as, “dumb fidelity.”

OTHER DANVILLE LAWYERS

The outstanding lawyer in Danville during Lincoln’s time was Oliver Davis, a brilliant, lawyer who associated more with Lincoln in Vermilion County than any other lawyer other than Lamon, but opposed him in over 100 cases there. Lincoln referred to him as, “little Davis” to distinguish him from the Judge.

Davis was born in New York City in 1819, the son of a shipping merchant. Educated at Hamilton College he clerked for the American Fur Company for six years before coming to Danville in 1842 where he went into practice with Isaac Walker. He married Sarah, the daughter of Hezekiah Cunningham with whom he had ten children. He built a fine home on North Vermilion which Lincoln often visited. He was a brilliant and highly respected lawyer often consulted by Judge Davis to whom he was in no way related. In 1854 he and three other prominent men were indicted for gambling, a case which was eventually dismissed because it wasn’t pursued. One story about him suggests arrogance to go with his considerable talent. Henry Clay Whitney recalled having a case against Davis and Lincoln. Davis told the young lawyer they were going to “beat me awfully” in the case. Alarmed, he went to Lincoln who assured him it was just another case which they might win and they might lose but not to worry.

Davis was elected to the Legislature as a Democrat in 1851, but joined the newly formed Republican Party due to the slavery issue and was elected to the Legislature as a Republican in 1857. He served as Circuit Judge of the newly formed Seventh Circuit in 1861 and sat as a Judge for a number of years as he died in 1892.

Davis’ partner Oscar F. Harmon was another leading lawyer of Danville as well as a close friend of Lincoln’s. Harmon was born in 1827 in Monroe County, New York. He attended law school practicing briefly in Rochester, New York before coming to Danville in 1853. He set up practice with Oliver Davis and was soon to marry a doctor’s widow, Elizabeth Hill, cousin of Davis’ wife and niece of the wealthy Paris Lincoln client, Milton Alexander. They were married by Enoch Kingsbury, the Presbyterian minister. Harmon was a temperance advocate and a man of substantial character. As a lawyer he was highly respected for his knowledge and counsel though he was not particularly able in court. He both associated with and opposed Lincoln on a number of cases and they became good friends. Lincoln and Elizabeth also became good friends. She, like many of the lawyers’ wives frequently attended court and was a great admirer of Lincoln’s. She attended all of his speeches in Danville.

The Harmon’s built a large brick home, which still stands, on thirty acres on East Main Street not far from the tracks. One year a contagious fever hit the McCormack House and the resident lawyers invited the visiting lawyers to stay in their homes. Lincoln stayed with the Harmon’s and Elizabeth and Lincoln talked long into the evening discussing the tragic loss of his son Eddie several years earlier. The fall court session often fell on Thanksgiving so court was adjourned and the Davis’ and the Harmon’s would entertain the visiting lawyers. Lincoln came to the Harmon’s where in addition to turkey, Elizabeth served prairie chicken, a species only recently brought back from near extinction in Illinois due to the destruction of the prairies. She recalled Lincoln’s kindness and attention to her children on these visits.

Harmon was elected to the Legislature in 1858 and Elizabeth visited with Lincoln in Springfield when she visited Harmon there. Harmon wrote from Springfield on January 5, 1859, “Mr. Lincoln last night wanted to know if you were with me and where I stopped. He asked about you in a way that implied a good deal of interest. He is fairly well.” Lincoln presented both Harmon and Oliver Davis autographed copies of the published edition of the Lincoln Douglas Debates in 1859. Harmon was also in Chicago on the David Davis team at the 1860 Convention. In 1862 he helped raise a regiment of Illinois volunteers and as a colonel led them at Prairieville, Stone River, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, and Knoxville before his death during the assault on Kenesaw Mountain on January 27, 1864. His family had sent brother George to bring home another brother, Frank who had been wounded in Petersburg. This request was refused so George, after several unsuccessful efforts to see Lincoln, got into see him. He advised Lincoln of Oscar’s death which visibly affected Lincoln. He then wrote the release for Frank and urged George to, “give my condolences to Elizabeth.”

Like the Circuit’s other counties, Vermilion grew rapidly during the Lincoln years. Its population 1840 was 4,200, in 1850 – 11,500 and by 1860 – 19,800. Its rate of growth was not as rapid as those counties to the west where the railroad had arrived earlier.

LINCOLN’S LAW PRACTICE

Lincoln’s practice in Vermilion County mirrored that in other counties. It was overwhelmingly civil, more collection cases than anything else, representing both debtor and creditor. It included real estate, numerous actions for damages, assault and battery, estate and chancery work, suits for divorce, breach of contract, and foreclosure. Only roughly 5% of his cases there were criminal in nature
Tom, If the length is too great for you, I would suggest that the next two paragraphs starting with, “Lincoln’s practice” and “Sexual misbehavior” come out.

Lincoln’s practice in Danville included divorce cases. George Helmich sued his wife Eliza, Lincoln’s client, alleging she had committed adultery with several men. Lincoln filed a denial charging that the husband had, “induced different men to make attempts upon her chastity.” The case was dismissed. Lincoln’s client Rachel Wilson denied her husband’s charge of adultery and was granted a divorce on the grounds of desertion. Lincoln represented a man named James Price who was sued for loss of services for impregnating the plaintiff’s daughter. That case was settled.

Sexual misbehavior was often the subject of slander cases. Lincoln’s client America Toney sued Emily Scotts for stating that Toney had relations with one Whitcomb late at night in her room. The defendant consented to a $5,000 judgment of which the plaintiff remitted all but $50, her reputation apparently reestablished. Lincoln and Oliver Davis represented Nancy Martin in her slander suit against William Underwood who had boasted of having sexual relations with her; his defense was that the allegation was true. After thirty four witnesses were called and the parties testified, the jury awarded $237 to the plaintiff. Slander cases were much more common in those days than later.
A significant slander case was that of David Campbell v. Abraham Smith. Campbell was the popular, fiddle playing State’s Attorney from Sangamon County, a close friend of Lincoln and Judge Davis as they rode the Circuit together for many years. A Democrat, he had been selected over Davis by the Legislature in 1839. Abraham Smith, a Quaker, was an outspoken, zealous abolitionist and temperance advocate. Born in 1796 he came to central Illinois from East Tennessee, eventually settling in 1839 on a ridge just west of the Vincennes Trace between Paris and Danville. He started an inn for travelers there where Lincoln stayed on occasion. He also operated a blacksmith shop and a store at the site, eventually platting the town of Ridge Farm there. Lincoln also knew him from their political activity and Smith’s constant advocacy of abolition. Smith was the most vocal of those in the county that accused Campbell of being soft on prosecution of liquor violations and charged collusion with the offending purveyors of liquor. Smith even offered to prosecute the cases himself. He also contended that Campbell was on occasion intoxicated on the job. Interestingly, David Davis in a letter dated November 3, 1851 wrote to his wife, “My friend Campbell is drinking hard. I am afraid there is no hope for him.”

In 1853 Campbell had had enough of Smith’s attacks and decided to file suit for slander. Knowing all the trial lawyers of the Circuit from his own professional activity, he chose Lincoln to bring the suit. Lincoln was co-counsel with the able Kirby Benedict, once of Decatur, then of Paris. Benedict was a fine lawyer about whose drinking Davis also commented in a letter home. Smith was represented by Oliver Davis and John Murphy. Murphy had been certified to the law practice by Lincoln. He was a Whig legislator and a staunch supporter of Lincoln’s, including his run for the Senate in 1854. In 1841 Lincoln tested and certified another young Danville lawyer, Josiah McRoberts, brother of Samuel who had started the Danville Law Office.

The jury awarded Campbell a verdict of $450 thus vindicating him. Smith unsuccessfully appealed this to the Supreme Court where Lincoln also represented Campbell. Campbell wasn’t the only government official Lincoln represented in Vermilion County. In 1851 the acting sheriff of the county was sued for assaulting a prisoner. The suit was brought by Benedict and Oliver Davis. Lincoln and John Murphy defended. The case was settled.

Lincoln’s criminal cases in Vermilion County covered a wide range. As in other counties, he represented several men accused of the illegal sale of liquor. A client of Lincoln named Johnson Pate failed to appear on a charge of stealing a cow. The state sued to recover on his bond and sought additional damages civilly as well. Lincoln lost his contention that there was no such cause of action, losing in both the trial court and the Supreme Court. In People v. Brewer Lincoln’s client was convicted of keeping, “…a disorderly house to the encouragement of fornication.” In People v. Ferwin Rice Lincoln unsuccessfully represented two horse thieves. Prairie fires represented a grave threat to the safety of the people and property of central Illinois at the time. Lincoln wrote an indictment for the prosecutor in a case charging the defendant with setting such a fire.

In 1854 Lincoln and Lamon defended Walter Bosley who shot a man in the back with a rifle. Bosley was indicted for murder. The case was prosecuted by Bloomington’s Leonard Swett as acting State’s Attorney. The jury reduced the charge finding Bosley guilty of manslaughter and he was sentenced to the penitentiary for eight years of hard labor.

Animals were a source of business to the lawyers of this time and place. Lincoln’s client Commodore Metcalf sued Phillip Brent for shooting his horse. The jury found against Lincoln’s client. A man named Hunt lost perhaps 300 sheep of a herd of 4,000 to the dogs of Lincoln’s clients Jonathan Handy and John Thompson. Those cases were settled. In Cooper v. Grace Lincoln’s client was sued for killing Cooper’s dog with strychnine. The jury awarded the plaintiff $35 though he sought $100. In Umphenour v. Scott and Campbell, Lincoln’s client suffered a $7.50 verdict for wrongful taking of a steer.

Lincoln defended eight individuals in a false imprisonment case, Snyder v. French et al. The plaintiff contended that the eight had beaten him and dragged him from his Champaign County home to a heavily wooded area of Vermilion County holding him for six hours. The case was later dismissed.

As in other counties, the coming of the railroad to Danville provided Lincoln with additional work. However, here it was against the railroad, not as its attorney. In the mid-1830’s as part of the overzealous push by the Legislature to expand “internal improvements” the first railroad, named the Northern Cross, was planned from Meredosia on the Illinois River east to Springfield and on to the state line at Danville. While a Legislator, William Fithian, though a somewhat reluctant supporter of most of these measures, was quick to back this one headed for Danville. Money was spent improving the rough terrain beginning large trestles and bridges across the neighboring streams. However, the panic of 1837 caused a collapse of the entire program, including the Northern Cross. It wasn’t constructed until 1848 and then slowly worked its way east through Springfield, Decatur, Tolono, not reaching Danville until 1856. The railroad became the Great Western. It was represented by Oliver Davis. Lincoln and Lamon represented a number of landowners in the acquisition cases filed by the railroad to obtain right of way. The principle issue being assessment of damages. This involved approximately fifteen cases covering from 1853 to 1855. As in other counties, Lincoln did on occasion substitute for Davis as a Judge in Vermilion County.

Other lawyers from Danville important in the Lincoln story include Hiram Beckwith, the son of Danville’s founder. Born in 1832, Hiram went into the office of Lamon and Lincoln to study law and serve there until its termination. He later became prominent as a historian, writing a number of fine local histories. Beckwith also opposed Lincoln on occasion after that office terminated. His observations of Lincoln the lawyer are noteworthy. He said that Lincoln never knowingly misstated the law or the evidence nor would he belittle the opponent’s side of the case. He called him an “admirable technician” who used humor before juries, and who had no superior before a jury. He cited Lincoln’s strategy of emphasizing only the most vital points in a case. He observed that Lincoln took no notes during a trial. When Beckwith asked him about this Lincoln told him that it was a bother to take the notes and was distracting from concentrating on the case. He said lawyers that used notes ended up confusing the jury. Lincoln said that he relied on his well trained memory in this regard.

A reporter of the Danville paper, “The Illinois Citizen” described Lincoln in a May of 1850 article who stated, “In his examination of witnesses, he displays a masterly ingenuity and a legal tact that baffles concealment and defies deceit. When he addresses the jury, there is no false glitter or sickly sentimentalism…His argument is bold, forcible, and convincing. Such are some of the qualities which place Lincoln at the head of the profession in this state and although he may have his equal, it would be no easy task to find his superior.”

THE LAWYERS’ LEISURE TIME

The lawyers, including Lincoln and Judge Davis, generally stayed at the McCormack House, one of the Circuit’s oldest and best hotels. Founded in 1833 by Jesse Gilbert, it had a relatively high caliber clientele drawn by the Land Office in Danville.

Davis would commandeer the Ladies’ Parlor, a rather large room and convert it into a two bed room. Davis held his noted Orgmathorial court in his rooms at the McCormack House by which means he ribbed lawyers and others for real and imagined offenses. One of his attacks on Lincoln in this court grew out of a case Lincoln and Lamon handled. Dr. John Scott was conservator for his retarded sister. A scoundrel after her money persuaded her to marry and filed a petition to remove the conservator. Lamon arranged a retainer of $250. The force of Lincoln’s presentation ended the case successfully in a mere twenty minutes. Lincoln directed Lamon to return one half the fee. After protesting Lamon did so, astonishing the client. That night as judge of the Orgmathorical court, Davis chastised Lincoln, “You are impoverishing the Bar by your picayune charge of fees.”

It was at the McCormack House that the storytelling sessions went late into the night. Lew Wallace, author of Ben Hur and a Civil War general, graphically recalled one such evening. Dan Voorhees came by his office in Covington, Indiana and suggested that they rent a horse and buggy to go over to Danville because court was in session. They reached town about dusk and entered the bar room which, “was all a-squeeze with residents, spiced with parties to suits, pending witnesses and jurors.” There were “bursts of laughter and now and then a yell of delight.” They worked their way into the room and then saw this scene: “In front of us a spacious pioneer fireplace all aglow with a fire scientifically built. On the right of the fireplace sat three of the best storytellers of Indiana (including Edward A. Hannegan). Opposite them a broad brick hearth intervening with two strangers to me who inquiry presently identified as famous lawyers and yarn spinners of Illinois.” He described it as a “tournament” of the five men, “only instead of splintering lances they were swapping anecdotes. As to the kind and color of the jokes submitted to the audience while not always chaste, they never failed to hit home.”

This went on till midnight. Finally one of the contestants seemed to prevail. “His hair was thick, coarse, and defiant; it stood out in every direction. His features were massive, nose long, eyebrows protrusive, mouth large, cheeks hollow, eyes gray, and always responsive to the humor. He smiled all the time, but never once did he laugh outright. About midnight his competitors were disposed to give in, either their stories were exhausted or they were tactilely conceding him the crown. From answering them story for story he gave two or three to their one. At last he took the floor and held it.” That was Lincoln.

Usher Linder, Charleston attorney, recalled one of these sessions where Edward Hannigan dazzled them with stories of his time as an ambassador in Europe. Linder recalled when he, Davis, Campbell, and Lincoln were all staying at the McCormack House during the Casseday trial. While these storytelling sessions were going on at the McCormack House, east on Main Street in the Lincoln-Lamon office, the hard core were meeting around Lamon’s renowned pitcher full of whiskey.

The lawyers attended shows and entertainment on occasion. Whitney tells of one occasion where Lincoln walked west down Main Street to the Academy, the Methodist Seminary where he was so enthralled by a magic light show that he went back to watch it the next night. The Hillis family consisting of a couple with three daughters and a son, gave concerts as the, “Newhall Family. They seemed to have traveled the Circuit to coincide with the crowds of court week and frequently traveled with the itinerant lawyers. They first met Lincoln in 1849 and performed for him, Davis, Stewart, and many other of the lawyers around the Circuit over the years. Several of these concerts attended repeatedly by Lincoln were in Danville during court week in May of 1852 to a “good audience.” A week earlier in Urbana, David Davis and Lincoln had taken the tavern keeper and his wife to hear the Family.

Leonard Swett recalled an unexpected scene at the McCormack House. He arrived after dark and was told that Lincoln was upstairs in Davis’ room. Climbing the unbannistered stairway, he entered upon invitation after knocking, to find Lincoln and Davis in their nightshirts engaged in a pillow fight. He described Lincoln’s yellow, flannel nightshirt extending all the way to his ankles. “He was certainly the ungodliest figure I had ever seen.”

Davis and Lincoln on occasion attended the First Presbyterian Church of Enoch Kingsbury. Kingsbury was an ardent abolitionist and friend of Lincoln’s. Born in New Hampshire and graduated from Amherst College, he was a pastor at that church from 1831 to 1852 even building the church. He traveled all over east central Illinois and on into Indiana as the Clerk of Presbytery. Lincoln appointed him as postmaster of Danville in 1862. Notwithstanding their friendship, in 1851 the conservator of one William Wilson hired Lincoln to sue Kingsbury as the former guardian for an incompetent individual. Lincoln successfully obtained a judgment. None of the credentials of Kingsbury apparently impressed Davis who told Sarah that he observed Kingsbury’s wife to be more of a woman than Kingsbury was of a man. When Lincoln and Davis attended his church, Davis reported in a letter to Sarah that that day they had heard, “a dull sermon.” That afternoon after church, Lincoln and Davis, “wandered about the river for at least three or four miles.” In May of 1852, Davis noted, “Danville looks beautiful now the foliage is green and the river is charming.”

On May 27, 1857 Lincoln was in Danville for court. As he and Thomas J. Hilliard, a deputy sheriff from Ridge Farm were walking down Main Street, they passed the second floor studio of photographer Amon T. Joslin, the first in Danville. Lincoln suggested that they go up and have their pictures taken and then they exchanged the pictures. This ambrotype of Lincoln was in Hilliard’s family for many years.

William W. R. Woodbury was another strong fan of Lincoln’s. In 1841, at age 17, he was indentured to William Fithian to work for him and learn the druggist and merchandising trade for a period of four years. At the end of that term, Fithian was to pay him $100 and his father $1,700. He then entered Rush Medical College in 1850, when he completed his education. He opened his own store which would become the Woodbury Drug Store and Book Store, a Danville institution for many years. Lincoln purchased medicine, books, papers, and other supplies there and spent a great deal of time in the back of the store trading stories with the locals.

In 1859 Woodbury built the tallest structure in Danville, an opera house on the southwest corner of the square and named it Lincoln Hall. Somewhat embarrassed, Lincoln told him that he hoped the enterprise would do better than a dog whose name was changed to Lincoln, after which the dog lost every fight in which he engaged.

POLITICAL BASE FOR LINCOLN

With its talented and influential Lincoln supporters, Danville was an important political base for him. From the beginning of his friendship with Lincoln, William Fithian was a significant ally of Lincoln. He later recalled one of Lincoln’s political assets out on the Circuit, “He seldom if ever forgot a man’s name or work and could recall both on meeting after many years had passed.” In 1840 Fithian assisted Lincoln for a speech he made in Tremont in the campaign of William Henry Harrison for President. In 1854 he wrote to Lincoln assuring him of the area’s support in Lincoln’s bid for the Senate.

Another solid backer of Lincoln was James Kilpatrick whose newspaper, the Vermilion County Press strongly supported Lincoln beginning in 1856 when Kilpatrick became editor. Earlier Kilpatrick and Lamon, close friends, were arrested and convicted for disorderly conduct in an incident in which they beat up the proprietor of a tavern for refusing to sell them liquor on credit. Their victim ran an ad shortly thereafter announcing that he would no longer be selling whiskey. Kilpatrick was in the Union Army and his exploits at Chickamauga led him to be called Chickamauga Jim.

In 1855 Lincoln spoke at the courthouse while in town for the fall court session. His speech was another in a series protesting the potential extension of slavery represented by the Kansas Nebraska Act. Elizabeth Harmon was present in the crowded courtroom as was Oliver Davis, Whitney, and Swett from the Circuit.

On May 10, 1856 an anti-Nebraska meeting was held to protest the extension of slavery and to plan participation in the convention in Bloomington which would lead to the founding of the Illinois Republican Party. Danville lawyer Joseph Peters presided and in turn attended that convention on May 29th. Lincoln was in court in Danville immediately before the convention. He traveled overland to Tolono and then took trains through Decatur to get to Bloomington for this vital meeting. That Fall Lincoln actively campaigned for the first Republican presidential nominee James C. Fremont. Fithian shared the platform with Lincoln in both Urbana and Paris confirming Fithian’s prominence in the new party.

Lincoln’s seminal campaign against Stephen A. Douglas began at the Republican State Convention in Springfield on June 16, 1858 where Lincoln was unanimously endorsed as a candidate for the United States Senate and gave his renowned “House Divided” speech. Fithian, Kilpatrick, and Beckwith were among those in attendance. On September 3, 1858 Lincoln wrote to Fithian, Beckwith, and Harmon as to the timing of his campaign appearance in Danville. His strategy everywhere was to speak after Douglas. Douglas was to speak on the afternoon of September 21st. Lincoln arrived in Danville on the train at 7:00 that evening, scheduled to speak the next day. Hiriam Beckwith recalls an interesting incident at the station. Douglas’ beautiful wife was arriving at that time on the same train as Lincoln. A large crowd of Lincoln supporters, including a band and 37 young girls dressed in white, met the train to be part of a procession to accompany Lincoln to the home of William Fithian where he was to spend the night. This stately house was built by Fithian in 1851. A committee including Beckwith, greeted him as he disembarked. Lincoln advised them that, “He had a lady in his care who he must first put in the hands of her waiting friends.” Lincoln accompanied Adele Douglas to her cab which would take her to Douglas’ suite at the McCormack House. Then Lincoln joined his crowd and the procession to Fithian’s. A large crowd had gathered to hear Lincoln. He stepped out of the long window of his guest room at the Fithian House onto a balcony from which he made a brief address. The balcony and bedroom remain unchanged, part of the Vermilion County Historical Museum. The next day he made his major Danville campaign speech speaking in the same sugar maple grove that Douglas had, about a mile southeast of the square. Both drew large festive crowds. The procession accompanying Lincoln was almost one mile long. Elizabeth Harmon recalled that while awaiting the time for his speech, a Lincoln emissary invited her over to Lincoln’s carriage to visit, an invitation she accepted. Lincoln spent that night at Fithians also before moving his campaign onto to Champaign County the next day. Before leaving he wrote to Chicago supporter Norman Judd suggesting a German speaker would be effective in Danville, evidence of the large influx of Germans to the area. The Germans proved to be a major source of support for Lincoln across the country throughout the rest of his career.

The 1858 campaign brought Lincoln back into contact with Abraham Smith, the Ridge Farm abolitionist. Smith wrote Lincoln a letter on May 31, 1858 chastising him for working against abolitionist Owen Lovejoy. In the letter he stated, “…I don’t like Lincoln personally” and acknowledged working against Lincoln in the Trumbull race for the Senate in 1854. He did concede that he considered Lincoln trustworthy. However, Lincoln turned him by his “House Divided” speech. In July Smith wrote him stating, “I am rejoiced that by thy speeches at Springfield and Chicago thou art fairly mounted on the eternal and vulnerable bull work of truth…”

Smith’s negative attitude toward Lincoln and his change of heart may relate to Lovejoy’s candidacy for reelection to the House of Representatives in that same year. The abolitionist Congressman was facing covert opposition from Lincoln allies Ward Hill Lamon and David Davis, who were more conservative than Lovejoy and were quietly working to have Davis unseat Lovejoy. Fithian was supporting Lovejoy. With the help of Oliver Davis, an anti-slavery legislator, this nascent effort of Lamon and Davis was stopped preserving the support of the liberal wing of the party for Lincoln. Lincoln also enlisted the help of Davis and Fithian in finding an appropriate candidate for the Illinois Senate in that election.

Following campaign speeches throughout the Midwest in the summer and early fall in 1859, Lincoln was back on the Circuit and in Danville for its regular session in November. He had been invited to speak in New York by Seward’s opponents. While in Danville on November 13th, he wrote to his potential New York host on the stationary of the McCormack House indicating a willingness to make such a speech noting in a post script, “I am here on court business, but my address is still at Springfield, Ills.” Continued correspondence thereafter led to Lincoln’s triumphant appearance at the Cooper Union in New York on February 22, 1860, a speech that completed the shaping of Lincoln’s viability as a candidate for the Republican nomination, which he received at the Convention in Chicago on May 18. This followed the Illinois State Republican Convention in Decatur on May 8th. The Decatur Convention was attended by Fithian, Kilpatrick, Beckwith, and Oliver Davis. Oliver Davis was chosen as a delegate to the Convention in Chicago. David Davis was holding court in Danville at this critical juncture. On his own motion, he adjourned court from May 8th until May 21st, the Monday after the adjournment of the Chicago Convention.

Throughout all of 1860 Kilpatrick’s Vermilion Country Press enthusiastically supported Lincoln in a highly partisan fashion. Lincoln’s leadership role in the Republican Party in Illinois asserted itself again in the summer of 1860. Fithian decided to run against Oscar Harmon for the Republican nomination for the Legislature. The race had implications because the Legislature still selected Senators and Republican Lyman Trumbull was up for reelection. Lamon wrote Lincoln on August 17th requesting that he solve this problem. Lincoln had already written Fithian several days earlier requesting that he find a way to restore party harmony. The party was solved when Fithian and Harmon both withdrew in favor of a compromise candidate. Lamon, quoting Oliver Davis, felt that Harmon’s magnanimity defused a delicate problem that the obstreperous Fithian had caused. In either event the Democrat was elected over the lesser qualified substitute candidate Samuel G. Craig.

On October 4, 1860 a huge Lincoln Hamlin rally was held in Danville attended by an estimated 6,000 from eastern central Illinois and western Indiana. The festivities lasted from 8 in the morning until late into the evening. On November 6th Lamon was in Springfield to accompany Lincoln to the polls along with Elmer Ellsworth. On February 11, 1861, a dreary day, Abraham Lincoln made his last trip to Danville, on a train bound for Washington, D.C. On board was Ward Hill Lamon resplendent in his colorful uniform accompanying Lincoln as his bodyguard. Approximately 1,000 people gathered in the drizzle to bid farewell to their old friend. Included in the crowd were William Fithian, Oliver Davis, Joseph Peters, James Kilpatrick, and Elizabeth Harmon. He greeted those friends that he could see and asked for Oliver Davis who had been pushed too far back by the press of the crowd. He asked for Oscar Harmon who was watching with his daughter Lucy from a window at their nearby home. The New York Herald reported, “Mr. Lincoln again stepped out and addressing himself to the enthusiastic gathering remarked that if he had any blessings to dispense, he would certainly dispense the largest and roundest to his good ole friends of Vermilion County.”

Then the train left the Eighth Circuit with its most famous citizen. Fifty-one months later on May 3, 1865 Lamon was to return to the Circuit with the remains of the fallen President which he had guarded on the long funereal train trip from Washington, D.C. for burial in Springfield.