2 pp. on bifolium; 9 3/4 x 8 in. (248 x 203 mm); docketed on verso in addition to Lincoln's endorsement; light toning; creasing from old folds.

Lincoln's endorsement appears on the verso of an autograph letter from 2nd Lieutenant Edward D. Baker, Jr. of the 4th Cavalry. Baker writes to Lincoln regarding a transfer from the 4th U.S. Cavalry regiment: "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 enclosed paper."

Lincoln warmly obliges the request with an endorsement reading 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."  

Second Lieutenant E.D. Baker, Jr. (1838-1883) was the son of Lincoln's close friend, Colonel Edward Dickinson Baker (1811-1861), whose long acquaintance with Lincoln began in the 1830s while both were up-and-coming young lawyers in Illinois. So close were the elder Baker and Lincoln that the Lincolns named their first child Edward Baker Lincoln (1846-1850). In 1859, the elder Baker moved to the newly admitted state of Oregon in pursuit of a U.S. Senate seat, which he claimed in 1860. On 15 May 1861, Senator Baker enlisted as a colonel and was commissioned into the Field & Staff Pennsylvania 71st Infantry. He was killed on 21 October 1861 at the Battle of Ball's Bluff, the only sitting U.S. Senator ever killed in a military engagement. Upon hearing the news of his friend's death, one reporter described seeing Lincoln "with bowed head, and tears rolling down his furrowed cheek...."

Given Lincoln and Baker's decades-long friendship, it is not surprising that the President would wish to do anything in his power to effect the younger Baker's wishes for a transfer. Ultimately, Lt. Baker remained in the U.S. Regular Army 4th Cavalry until 1863, receiving promotions to 1st Lieutenant and then Adjutant. In 1863, he was commissioned into the U.S. Army's Quartermaster's Department, where he served for the remainder of the war. After the war, Baker continued to serve in the U.S. Army, rising to the rank of Major.

A superb example of how Lincoln consistently tried to balance the needs of the nation and "the public service," with his personal relationships. Basler First Supplement, p. 109. 

Provenance:

James T. Hickey, historian and collector of Lincolniana, Elkhart, Illinois

Louise Taper, Beverly Hills, California