This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 8/1/2025
Abraham Lincoln autograph endorsement signed as President, dated 13 November 1861 to Secretary of War Simon Cameron. Lincoln allows a regimental transfer for 2nd Lieutenant Edward D. Baker, Jr., the son of Lincoln's beloved friend U.S. Senator Edward D. Baker, who was killed in action during the Battle of Ball's Bluff - the only U.S. Senator killed in military battle. Lincoln was so close to the elder Baker, in fact, that he named his own child, Edward Baker Lincoln, after the Senator.
Lincoln's handwritten endorsement 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. / A. Lincoln / Nov. 13, 1861.''
Lincoln's endorsement appears on the verso of an autograph letter signed by Baker, Jr., beseeching the President to transfer him from his current Cavalry regiment to a ''regiment of Volunteers now being raised in Oregon.'' The transfer was likely in honor of his father, who despite serving in the Illinois House and Senate for most of his career, served as U.S. Senator from Oregon at the time of his death.
Bifolium document measures 9.75'' x 8.875'', with Lincoln's endorsement appearing on the middle panel. Toning along fold lines, overall in very good plus condition with bold handwriting by Lincoln.
This lot has a Reserve Price that has not been met.