96. Lincoln, Abraham. Autograph letter signed (“A. Lincoln”) as President, 9 October 1862, and attached autograph endorsement signed (“A. Lincoln”) as President, 10 October 1862, on first and fourth pages of (5 x 8 in.; 127 x 203 mm.) Executive Mansion stationery, two conjoined sheets. Docketed on verso with faint show-through. Light smudging on Meigs’ note only.

President Lincoln writes the Quarter-Master General to grant a wounded soldier’s desire to be a Quarter-Master.

Lincoln writes in full:
Washington, October 9, 1862. Quarter-Master General [Montgomery C. Meigs] My Dear Sir: The bearer of this, Elbridge Meconkey, was on Gen. Mc.Call’s staff, and was wounded at Gaine’s Mill. He now wishes to be a Quarter-Master; and I would like to appoint him, if another Q.M. is now needed. Please answer. Yours truly A. Lincoln.”

On the fourth page,
Gen. Montgomery C. Meigs returns the letter to the President. In full: “Respectfully returned to the President of the United States. This Department has now calls for details of Quarter-Masters of Volunteers which it cannot supply, & the Quarter master General will gladly avail of the services of any efficient officer who may be appointed & directed to report to him for duty. M C Meigs. QMG. Q M Generals Office. Oct.10th 1862.”

President Lincoln pens the following beneath Gen. Meigs reply: “Let Elbridge Meconkey be appointed at once. A. Lincoln. Oct. 10, 1862.”

Roy P. Basler notes in “The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln” (University Press: New Brunswick, N.J., 1953), Volume V, page 454: “No further record of Elbridge Meconkey has been found, but his recommendation from Lincoln, and perhaps other papers, are listed as missing from the Quartermaster General’s files [in the National Archives] (DNA WR RG 92, P 100).” The Battle of Gaines’ Mill took place on 27 June 1862. Meconkey met with President Lincoln on 9 October 1862 and personally delivered the President’s letter to Gen. Meigs. There is no government record of any further appointment of Elbridge Meconkey (1840-1887), 44th Regiment Cavalry, Pennsylvania Volunteers.

The Tuesday, 31 May 1887, edition of the
Harrisburg [Pa.] Patriot reported his suicide on Memorial Day. Headed “Death of Major Meconkey A Useful Life Ended in an Unexpected Manner.” In part, “The saddest event of recent years in this city was the death yesterday morning of Major Meconkey, by his own hand [by hanging], in the office of the Pennsylvania Agricultural Society about 11 o’clock. For some time, the Major has been despondent, the result of protracted ill health, and recently evidences have disclosed the fact that his reason was unseated. But no one who knew him apprehended such an issue of his troubles and the entire community was shocked when the news of the sad occurrence spread as it did with lightning rapidity throughout the city. Major Meconkey was in every respect one of the most estimable citizens of the Commonwealth. Endowed by nature with a wonderfully strong physical and mental system, his education added to his acquirements and marked him as a man of remarkable parts. He was born in Chester County forty-nine years ago and enjoyed all the advantages of wealth and position. He was a student of Yale College and afterwards graduated from the law school of Harvard University [in 1861]. At the breaking out of the war he entered the army and became an officer on the staff of General McCall who commanded the Pennsylvania Reserves. His military record is radiant with brilliant services and his civil life is marked by a devotion to every duty that devolved upon him and a faithful performance of every work. At the close of the war, Major Meconkey, having been previously admitted to the bar of Chester County, married Miss Berghaus and located here for the practice of his profession. Subsequently he removed to Quincy, Illinois but soon returned to Harrisburg. He served as one of the reading clerks of the House of Representatives in Congress with marked success and during the session of 1875-76 and ‘83 was resident clerk of the House of Representatives of the Pennsylvania Legislature. In this important office he manifested a zeal and ability in the discharge of his duties that won the respect and the admiration of the entire state...”

Gen. Meigs, who ostensibly met Meconkey when he gave him Lincoln’s letter, wrote the President that there was a need for Quarter-Masters and he would “gladly avail of the services of any efficient officer who may be appointed & directed to report to him for duty.” Pres. Lincoln then ordered “Meconkey be appointed at once.” As Quarter-Master is not mentioned in Meconkey’s lengthy obituary, nor is the appointment found in government records, it appears that he was not appointed. Extensive research has not revealed why.
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