American Historical Ephemera & Photography

3pp, 8 x 10". A. Gardner, Jr. writes to Benjamin Franklin Wade, U.S. Senator from Ohio during the Civil War. Gardner asks Wade to personally make his application for Pay Master of the U.S. Army known to President Lincoln, in the hopes that the "personal touch" will get him the position, and, if not that, he would be interested in being a U.S. Marshal. 

"...I am obliged to you for the interest you have manifested in my welfare relative to the appointment of Paymaster in the regular Army of the U. States... I would suggest that you make it a point to call the attention of His Excellency the President to my application, and press it upon him personally, as in this way, I am persuaded more can be done than with the Secy [of] War,  al all my papers & letters of recommendation have been properly filed with him (the President)..If you should think it best, and would not work to my prejudice, you could call Mr. Lincoln's attention to my humble application for the Marshalship (sic) of the Northern District, O."

Wade adds a six-line endorsement on the fourth page: "The writer of the within letter is a very worthy man and well qualified for the position he seeks..." and signed B.F. Wade.

Benjamin Wade moved to Ohio with his family in 1821. He studied law and after his admission to the bar, he formed a partnership with Joshua Giddings, an outspoken antislavery advocate. Wade, also, became a radical abolitionist, bringing him into conflict with both Presidents Lincoln and Johnson. His views apparently cost him re-election to the State Senate in 1839, and to a fourth US Senate term in 1869. (It is not clear that stepping in for Mr. Gardner was really a good idea, either...)