I remember that at this great meeting of the
supporters of Harrison and Tyler there were a number of able and
distinguished speakers of the Whig party of the State of Illinois
present. Among them were Colonel E.D. Baker, who was killed at Ball's
Bluff, on the Potomac, in the late war, and who was one of the most
eloquent speakers in the State; Colonel John J. Hardin, who was killed
at the battle of Buena Vista, in the Mexican War; Fletcher Webster,
a son of Daniel Webster, who was killed in the late war; S. Leslie
Smith, a brilliant orator of Chicago; Rev. John Hogan, Ben Bond, and
Abraham Lincoln. I heard all of these men speak on that occasion. And
while I was too young to be a judge of their speeches, yet I thought
them all to be great men, and none of them greater than Abraham
Lincoln."
One of the most prominent members of the Illinois bar has written out
especially for this work his impressions of Lincoln's speech at that
gathering.
[Illustration: ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN 1861.
From a photograph by Klauber of Louisville, Kentucky. From a
photograph owned by Mr. James B. Speed of Louisville, Kentucky, to
whose courtesy we owe the right to reproduce it here. When Lincoln
was visiting Joshua F. Speed in 1841, Mrs. Speed, the mother of his
friend, became much interested in him.
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