War-dated ALS as president, signed “A. Lincoln,” one page, 5 x 8, Executive Mansion letterhead, April 19, 1862. Lincoln writes to Secretary of War Edwin Stanton. In full: “Will you, with the Adjutant General, please find a way to put Henry J. Doolittle, son of the Senator, on the staff of Gen. Charles S. Hamilton, acting Major General, near York-Town. My heart is in this.” Hamilton had been appointed colonel of the 3rd Wisconsin Infantry on May 11, 1861, and was promoted to brigadier general on May 17. Henry J. Doolittle, who enlisted in the Union Army after his 1861 graduation from Harvard, was appointed additional aide-de-camp on Hamilton’s staff as of April 19, 1862, the day Lincoln wrote the present letter. Hamilton was relieved just 11 days later, on April 30, during the Siege of Yorktown. In the following July, a Wisconsin newspaper reported on the celebration of the silver wedding anniversary of Senator and Mrs. James R. Doolittle at their Racine home, noting that “There was no formality, restraint was banished, and a light, pleasant time enjoyed.... We are sorry to say their eldest son, Capt. Henry J. Doolittle, is confined to his room with typhoid fever and dysentery.” Senator Doolittle, a staunch supporter of Lincoln, was close friends with Hamilton, a Wisconsin farmer before the war. Doolittle had no doubt informed Lincoln of his son’s illness in April and requested that Henry be assigned to his friend’s staff. Henry J. Doolittle died in his room in the following August at the age of 23. In fine condition, with a vertical fold through first initial, and some scattered mild toning. Auction LOA John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and R&R COA.
