LINCOLN, ABRAHAM. Brief Autograph Letter Signed, "A.

BUSY PRESIDENT-ELECT TAKES TIME TO SEND AN AUTOGRAPH LINCOLN, ABRAHAM. Brief Autograph Letter Signed, "A. Lincoln," as President-Elect, to "Mrs. Dr. Reed": "Below is my autograph, which [you] did me the honor to request." 1 page, 2½x5 inches; mounted to a larger sheet, dime-sized portrait pasted to recto at right of signature, some closed edge tears, faint scattered toning.Springfield, 21 December 1860

In December 1860, threats to the federal forts in Charleston had put the president-elect Lincoln on guard. On the 21st, Lincoln wrote to publisher and advisor Francis Preston Blair about General Winfield Scott: "If the forts shall be given up before the inauguration, the General must retake them afterwards."