- 254
Lincoln, Abraham
Estimate
12,000 - 18,000 USD
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Description
- Autograph letter signed ("A. Lincoln") as sixteenth President
- paper, ink
One page (7 7/8 x 4 7/8 in.; 202 x 125 mm) on a leaf of Executive Mansion letterhead, Washington, 2 December 1864, to General Ethan A. Hitchcock; one vertical crease, very lightly soiled. Tipped to a mat and matted, framed, and glazed with an etched portrait of Lincoln.
Literature
The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, ed. Basler, 8: 131
Condition
One page (7 7/8 x 4 7/8 in.; 202 x 125 mm) on a leaf of Executive Mansion letterhead, Washington, 2 December 1864, to General Ethan A. Hitchcock; one vertical crease, very lightly soiled. Tipped to a mat and matted, framed, and glazed with an etched portrait of Lincoln.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.
Catalogue Note
Lincoln seeks assistance from General Hitchcock, who served during the the second half of the Civil War as Commissioner for Prisoner of War Exchange and Commissary-General of Prisoners: "If you can oblige Mrs. Welles, by effecting a special exchange of Lieut. or Capt. Richard Dinsmore, now in the Poor-House prison at Charleston, I will be greatly obliged."
The Pennsylvania State Archives Civil War Veterans Card File 1861-1866 records that Richard Dinsmore, of Company E, Thirty-fourth Pennsylvania was promoted from 2nd Lieutenant to 1st Lieutenant on 17 September 1862, and to Captain on 5 March 1863. Basler speculates that Dinsmore may have been a relative or friend of Mary Jane Hale Welles, the wife of the Secretary of the Navy, who was originally from Lewistown, Pennsylvania, the vicinity in which his regiment was recruited.