Sold – Lincoln Rewards the Man Who Nominated Him For President With a General’s Command

By 1860, Lincoln had become part of the national political scene due to his debates with Stephen A. Douglas and Cooper Union speech in New York. As the 1860 campaign got underway, he was mentioned for the presidency but was hardly considered a contender. However, many felt that he was a viable candidate for Vice-President on a ticket with William A. Seward running for the presidency. It was almost universally believed that the State Republican Convention of Illinois, meeting in Decatur, would present his name for that office to the National Convention in Chicago. On May 6, 1860 the largest step in Lincoln’s political career occurred as the Decatur convention convened at a hastily constructed wood and tent structure called ‘The Wigwam.’ The roof was so low that the heads of men as tall as Lincoln, when on the platform, almost touched the canvass roof. The seats were constructed of plank, staked on edge with boards laid over them. But despite the rough-hewn quality of the building, this was to be a momentous convention.

John M. Palmer had always been a Democrat, but his anti-slavery position led him to help organize the Illinois Republican Party. In 1856, he was president of the first Illinois Republican Convention, and was a delegate to the national convention in Philadelphia that nominated John C. Fremont. In 1860, he was a strong supporter of Abraham Lincoln and in Decatur for the convention. Also very much a presence was Richard Oglesby, a friend of Lincoln’s who was preparing a surprise for the convention. Though the delegates thought the principal business was to nominate a candidate for governor, Oglesby decided to advance Lincoln’s presidential prospects by presenting him as a representative of free labor to show the possibilities that existed for poor men in a free State. So Oglesby and Lincoln’s cousin, John Hanks, went to a clearing John had made with Lincoln when they were splitting rails many years before. They took two of the rails from the area, took them to town, and hid the rails in Oglesby’s barn until the day of the convention. He talked with Palmer and a few other Republicans about the plan and decided that Hanks would take the rails into the convention. They made a banner and attached it to a board fastened across the top of the rails: “Abraham Lincoln, The Railsplitter Candidate, for President in 1860. Two rails from a lot of 3,000 made in 1830 by John Hanks and Abe Lincoln.”

Things really started to get rolling at the convention. At a prearranged moment, Hanks carried the banner in. Palmer jumped to his feet with a resolution declaring that “Abraham Lincoln is the first choice of the Republican Party of Illinois for the presidency,” and instructing “the delegates to the Chicago convention to use all honorable means to secure the nomination and to cast the vote of the state as a unit for him.” Thomas Turner, a champion for Seward, bitterly attacked the resolution. Palmer followed with an impassioned speech for Lincoln, his resolution was adopted, and such was the pro-Lincoln enthusiasm that ensued that the Wigwam was almost wrecked. The roof was cheered off the building as hats, canes, papers, etc. were thrown in the air. At the peak of this excitement, Lincoln could not be found. He was hunted for and discovered in the back room of a jewelry store, where he had wandered in and taken a nap on the couch. He was taken into the convention through a rear entrance, not fully realizing what was happening. He stood dazed for a few moments, but when asked if he had split those rails said, “Gentlemen, John and I did split some rails down there, and if these are not the identical rails, we certainly made some quite as good.” At the national convention a few weeks later, as Seward’s men were promoting the idea of having Lincoln’s name brought forward as a candidate for vice president, they were confronted personally by Palmer who followed them telling delegates that he could guaranty that Democrats and former Democrats would not vote for Seward and Seward could never be elected president. The best candidate for chief executive, he maintained was Abraham Lincoln.

In February 1861, Palmer was requested by Lincoln to be a delegate to the peace convention in Washington which failed when no compromise could be reached. When Fort Sumter was fired upon, Palmer quickly put aside his law practice and organized the 14th Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry. He was elected its colonel, and with his unit was mustered in on May 25, 1861. Soon after, Lincoln promoted him to general.

Autograph Letter Signed as President, Executive Mansion, December 7, 1861, to Secretary of War Simon Cameron.  Lincoln almost always couched requests for senior military appointments in language that permitted his Secretary of War to find a polite way to decline, prefacing his wishes with phrases like “If you know of no reason to the contrary” or “if it is in the interests of the service”, but in this case he issued a mandatory instruction with no escape clause: “My dear Sir, Let John M. Palmer of Illinois be appointed as Brigadier General of Volunteers. Yours truly  A. Lincoln.” Thus was Palmer rewarded for his loyalty to Lincoln. The appointment turned out to be a wise one, as Palmer was quite successful as a military commander.

Upon his promotion, Palmer was given a division under John Pope and took part in the successful New Madrid and Island No. 10 campaign; he then commanded a brigade during the advance on Corinth, and a division of Crittenden’s left wing at Murfreesboro. On November 29, 1862, he was promoted to major general, and was conspicuous in the Battle of Stones River, where his division held an important position within the Union lines. He effectively led his troops during the Battle of Chickamauga in September 1863. He was named commander of the 14th Corps of the Army of the Cumberland soon after and served in the Chattanooga and Atlanta campaigns. Palmer’s corps was a part of William T. Sherman’s famous March to the Sea and the actions to capture Savannah, Georgia. In early 1865, he was reassigned to command all Federal forces in Kentucky. After the war, in 1868, Palmer was elected Governor of Illinois on the Republican ticket.  In 1890, he was elected to the U.S. Senate as a Democrat and served one term. His last foray into national politics took place in 1896, when opposed to William Jennings Bryan’s pro-silver platform, he ran for president on the Gold Democratic ticket.