Lincoln's Ladder to the Presidency: The Eighth Judicial Circuit

14. We Saw Him No More

241 14. We Saw Him No More z Before leaving for Chicago, the president-elect almost lost his new whiskers to the razor of Springfield barber William Florville, but Lincoln stopped his friend in time. On the trip north to Chicago to meet his newly elected vice president, Hannibal Hamlin, the train stopped in Lincoln, Atlanta, Bloomington, and Lexington, where Lincoln offered brief remarks from the back of the train. He was never to return to these towns. On November 21, 1860, he arrived in Chicago, and at the request of Henry Clay Whitney, he had his picture taken again by Samuel Alschuler, the first showing the beard. Following the trip, he wrote to Whitney on November 26, “I regret not having an opportunity to see more of you. Please present my respects to Mrs. W and to your good Father and Mother.”1 Leonard Swett and David Davis continued to assist Lincoln. Working with their new ally Thurlow Weed, they helped Lincoln in his cabinet formation . In January, Lincoln sent Swett to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C., to assist in this and included former rival William H. Seward in these discussions. During this time, Lincoln worked on his first inaugural address in the state capitol office, submitting the draft to Davis for review.2 Lincoln’s old friend Joseph Gillespie, in Springfield on business, visited Lincoln at his law office. At Lincoln’s invitation, he stayed several days, having lengthy personal conversations with the president-elect, discussing the crisis facing the nation and reminiscing about their shared past. Gillespie recalled Lincoln saying to him, “I wish I could take all you lawyers down there with me, Democrats and Republican alike, and make a cabinet 242 Nomination, Election, and the Presidency On November 25, 1860, in Chicago, when Lincoln met his vice president, Hannibal Hamlin, for the first time, photographer Samuel Alschuler, formerly of Urbana, took the first of Lincoln’s still-emerging beard. Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. out of you. I believe I could construct one that would save the country, for then I would know every man and where he would fit. I tell you there are some Illinois Democrats whom I know well I would rather trust than a Republican I would have to learn, for I’ll have no time to study the lesson.” 243 We Saw Him No More Those Democratic lawyers he identified for Gillespie included Usher Linder and Orlando Ficklin.3 On January 30, Lincoln traveled by rail across the circuit to Tolono and then south to visit his stepmother, Sarah Bush Lincoln. He spent the next day with Coles County friends and visited his father’s grave. On February 1, he made a last visit to Sarah and returned to Springfield in late afternoon.4 At last the agonizing wait was over. On February 10, Lincoln went by the office to bid farewell to Billy Herndon. As Lincoln started out the door, he noticed the sign board with the firm name hanging at the foot of the stairway: “Let it hang there undisturbed. Give our clients to understand that the election of a President makes no change in the firm of Lincoln and Herndon. If I live I’m coming back sometime and then we’ll go right on practicing law as if nothing had ever happened.”5 The Trip East On February 11, 1861, a cold and gloomy day, Lincoln left Sangamon County for the last time. In his sentimental and touching farewell address from the back of his train at the Great Western depot, Lincoln said, “To this place and the kindness of these people I owe everything. . . . I bid you an affectionate farewell.” The Clinton Central Transcript on February 14, 1861, noted, “The man they had known so long and loved so well was about to go from them, perhaps forever.”6 Next the train stopped in Decatur. James Shoaf, now editor of the Democratic Magnet, urged all to come to see the man who would “save the Union.” Several thousand gathered at the Union Station, where the train stopped for a few minutes. Lincoln spoke briefly from the back and then stepped down to shake hands around, including that of a small boy who had cut across a field and through a ditch full of water to get close to him. Lincoln said to him, “My boy, you must have wanted to see...