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Book Cover
E-book
Author Eckley, Robert S.

Title Lincoln's forgotten friend, Leonard Swett / Robert S. Eckley
Published Carbondale : Southern Illinois University Press, 2012

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Description 1 online resource
Contents A wandering youth -- The road to Mount Pulaski -- The great triumvirate of the Eighth Judicial Circuit -- Politics overtakes the law -- From the Wigwam to Washington -- And the war came -- Witness to the emancipation -- Quicksilver and New Almaden -- This terrible war -- A strategic decision -- Legal advocate and civic leader -- The better angels of our nature
Summary In 1849, while traveling as an attorney on the Eighth Judicial Circuit in Illinois, Abraham Lincoln befriended Leonard Swett (1825-89), a fellow attorney sixteen years his junior. Despite this age difference, the two men built an enduring friendship that continued until Lincoln's assassination in 1865. Until now, no historian has explored Swett's life or his remarkable relationship with the sixteenth president. In this welcome volume, Robert S. Eckley provides the first biography of Swett, crafting an intimate portrait of his experiences as a loyal member of Lincoln's inner circle. Eckley chronicles Swett's early life and the part he played in Lincoln's political campaigns, including his role as an essential member of the team behind Lincoln's two nominations and elections for the presidency. Swett counseled Lincoln during the formation of his cabinet and served as an unofficial advisor and sounding board during Lincoln's time in office. Throughout his life, Swett wrote a great deal on Lincoln, and planned to write a biography about him, but Swett's death preempted the project. His eloquent and interesting writings about Lincoln are described and reproduced in this volume, some for the first time. With Lincoln's Forgotten Friend, Eckley removes Swett from the shadows of history and sheds new light on Lincoln's personal relationships and their valuable contributions to his career
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes English
Print version record
Subject Swett, Leonard, 1825-1889.
Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865 -- Friends and associates
SUBJECT Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865 fast
Swett, Leonard, 1825-1889 fast
Subject Lawyers -- Illinois -- Biography
BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY -- Historical.
HISTORY -- United States -- State & Local -- General.
HISTORY -- United States -- State & Local -- Midwest (IA, IL, IN, KS, MI, MN, MO, ND, NE, OH, SD, WI)
Friendship
Lawyers
SUBJECT Bloomington (Ill.) -- Biography
Subject Illinois
Illinois -- Bloomington
Genre/Form Biographies
Biographies.
Biographies.
Form Electronic book
LC no. 2012012090
ISBN 080933206X
9780809332069
6613935557
9786613935557
1283623102
9781283623100