LINCOLN AND THE
HOOSIER DEMOCRATS
Abraham Lincoln rode the Eighth Judicial Circuit during
much of his law practice, itinerant work that took him
across central and east-central
Illinois. These experiences
brought him into contact with
many people who would come
to have lasting influence upon
American society. During one
tour of the circuit in 1851, while
visiting the Vermilion County
Circuit Court in Danville, near the
Illinois-Indiana border, Lincoln
found a court crowded with legal
and political luminaries from both
sides of the state line.
Lewis “Lew” Wallace
was a young attorney who began his law career in nearby
Covington, Indiana. In the fall of 1851, he and fellow
Covington attorney Daniel Voorhees attended court in
Danville. Wallace’s memoir includes a recollection of this
event.
We reached town about dusk and stopped
at the tavern. The bar-room, when we entered
it after supper, was all a-squeeze with residents,
spiced with parties to suits pending, witnesses,
and jurors. . . . To edge in we had to bide our
time. Every little while there would be bursts of
laughter, and now and then a yell of delight. At
last, within the zone of sight, this was what we
saw: In front of us a spacious pioneer fireplace
all aglow. . . . On the right of the fireplace sat
three of the best storytellers of Indiana . . . .
Opposite them, a broad brick hearth intervening,
Lew Wallace in 1848
Daniel Voorhees, 1861
were two strangers to me whom inquiry
presently identified as famous lawyers and yarn-spinners
of Illinois.1
One of the Illinoisans was Lincoln, and the Indianans
were some of the leaders of the state Democratic party:
Edward Hannegan, former U.S. Senator and ambassador
to Prussia; former Congressman John Pettit; and
Congressman Dan Mace. Lincoln and Whig lawyer-politician
Usher Linder swapped stories and jokes with the Democrats
from Indiana in a sort of competition until midnight, when
according to Wallace, Lincoln won the floor with his font of
masterful improvisation.2
The case that brought legal talent from both sides of
the border was Fithian v. Casseday, a libel suit in which
Lincoln’s friend Dr. William Fithian sought $25,000 in
damages. Lincoln and Linder represented Fithian, while
Hannegan and several Danville attorneys labored for the
defense. George Casseday had published scurrilous
statements about Fithian’s character in a local newspaper.
In a letter to his wife Sarah, Judge David Davis
reported about the trial that “The ladies of town in great
numbers were present” in the courtroom and “they all seemed
delighted with the speeches that were made.” In the end,
Lincoln’s client won a judgment for $547. In this battle of
words, however, Davis, a partisan Whig who typically
reserved highest praise for Lincoln’s speaking ability, reported
to Sarah, “Mr. Hannegan is a beautiful speaker. His elocution
is as fine as any mans that I ever heard.” After hours, Judge
Davis, Lincoln, Linder and Hannegan shared a room in
Bailey’s tavern, and Hannegan entertained the Illinoisans with
tales from his time in Europe with “descriptions of foreign
courts, ambassadorial dinners
&c. &c.” According to Davis,
Hannegan was “as
companionable pleasant
gentleman as I ever associated
with. . . . His power of
conversation is very fine.”3
During the same term of
the Vermilion County Circuit
Court, on October 23, 1851,
Lincoln filed a motion to allow
Daniel Voorhees to practice in
Illinois courts. Just as a new in-state
lawyer needed an
established lawyer to vouch for
his ability and standing in the community, new out-of-state
lawyers also needed support from a leader of the Illinois
bar. Lincoln and Voorhees would go on to work together or
against each other in five cases between 1853 and 1857.
Notes:
1 Ross K. Baker, “Entry of Women into Federal Job World—At a Price,”
Smithsonian 8 (July 1977): 83-86; Judith E. Harper, Women During the
Civil War: An Encyclopedia (New York: Routledge, 2004), s.v. “Government
Girls,” 174-75.
2 Michael Burlingame, ed., Inside the White House in War Times: Memoirs
and Reports of Lincoln’s Secretary (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press,
2000), 185.
3 Florence Watson and Delia Swain to Abraham Lincoln, March 27, c. 1862-
65, box 609, RG 56, Entry 210, National Archives, Washington, DC.
the terse bureaucratic scrawl “Put on list of applicants.” Most
likely, neither of the young women secured the positions they
thought “dear ‘Uncle Abe’” could so easily grant.
David Gerleman, Assistant Editor
