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Abraham Lincoln: Autograph Endorsement Signed....
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Description
Abraham Lincoln: Autograph Endorsement Signed. Two pages of a bifolium, 7 3/4" x 9 3/4", Washington, D.C.; November 13, 1861. Lincoln writes an endorsement on the verso of a transfer request from Edward D. Baker, Jr., the son of his close personal friend, Colonel Edward D. Baker, who had died at the Battle of Ball's Bluff just three weeks earlier. It reads, in full:"If the writer of the within, son of Col. E. D. Baker, who fell at Ball's Bluff, can be transferred to be a Major of Oregon Volunteers, consistently with the public service, I shall be very glad, being sincerely desirous to oblige him, for his father's sake, as well as his own." Signed, "A. Lincoln."
Lincoln met Edward Dickinson Baker in 1835, and the two quickly became inseparable friends, their close companionship even sparking an apocryphal rumor that Baker baptized Lincoln into the Church of Christ. In 1846, Lincoln named his newborn son Edward Baker Lincoln in his honor-tragically, young Eddie died of tuberculosis just four years later. Baker's own life was cut short on October 21, 1861, at the Battle of Ball's Bluff. Acting on a false report of an unguarded Confederate camp, Union forces launched a raid but were overwhelmed when reinforcements failed to arrive. In the fighting, Baker was shot in the head and chest by a volley of bullets, killing him instantly. The loss devastated Lincoln. Charles Carleton Coffin of the Boston Journal, who saw the president upon hearing the news, recalled: "With bowed head, and tears rolling down his furrowed cheeks, his face pale and wan, his heart heaving with emotion, he almost fell as he stepped into the street" (Braden, 1960).
On the recto, E. D. Baker, Jr., writes directly to Lincoln to request a transfer to a regiment being raised in Oregon. It reads, in full: "I made application to the Hon. Secretary of War a few days since to be transferred from my own regiment of Cavalry to a regiment of Volunteers now being raised in Oregon. I was informed by him that anything you would request in the matter would be granted to me, and I therefore humbly petition your Excellency to be pleased to place your name to the inclosed paper." Signed, "E. D. Baker U. S. A. / 4 Cav." Colonel Baker had been elected a U.S. Senator for Oregon before the outbreak of the war, but left the Senate for military service shortly after the Confederate artillery fired on Fort Sumter in April 1861.
A remarkable association piece, penned in the wake of one of the President's greatest personal losses of the Civil War.
Condition: Very lightly toned with smoothed folds. Two small separations at the integral fold. Two short, closed tears at the top horizontal fold, touching text but not Lincoln's endorsement. Docketed on the verso with a pinhole thereat.
Reference: Braden, Gayle Anderson. 1960. "The Public Career of Edward Dickinson Baker."
Auction Info
2025 October 24 - 25 Americana & Political Signature® Auction #6324 (go to Auction Home page)
Auction Dates
October, 2025
24th-25th
Friday-Saturday
Bids + Registered Phone Bidders: 21
Lot Tracking Activity: N/A
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